Boy
by IdleWit
Summary: Angel comes across a young boy, he offers him help but doesn't think he'll take it. He thinks that's all he'll ever see of him,but then the boy comes to his doorstep asking the unexpected. Angel find himself protecting the boy, but from what?
1. Caring

**I hope you like. I'm not sure if it's a little boring please tell me what you think. It's only a short story unless people want me to expand on it. Please tell. : )**

**Time: It's held just after Darla had Connor, so in season three.**

**Story (Possibly how it will go if people like this): Angel comes across a young boy, he offers him help but doesn't think he'll take it. He thinks that's all he'll ever see of him,but then the boy comes to his doorstep asking the unexpected. Angel find himself protecting the boy, but from what? And why are the Senior Partners interested in him too? **

**Boy**

**Caring**

Angel felt somebody following him about three blocks away. He hadn't been quite sure whether they were actually following him, or if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. He had detoured through a couple of side streets, they were still behind him. Now Angel waited in the shadows behind a dumpster.

The wind blew the persons sent towards him. It had a hint of magic and something Angel couldn't identify, all he knew was that this person was not normal. The thing that made Angel hide though was the slight hint of Wolfram and Hart, the person, whoever they were, had been associating with Angel's least favorite enemies, Angel probably guessed they were not his friend. As he anticipated the person came closer, Angel waited until they were nearly in front of his hiding spot, then he pounced.

He grabbed the person's arm and pulled it behind their back, pushing them against the alley wall. When he was finally allowed to inspect his catch he almost let it go. It was a boy between thirteen and fifteen, it was just a kid. Angel had to remind himself that appearances were often deceiving.

"Hey," said the kid cooly, "Is their a point to you holding me like this? Aren't you going to ask me questions, or are you just going to stand their?"

Angel would have called that kind of talk in this situation bravado, heck he _was_ two times the kids height, but he smelled no fear whatsoever on the kid, it was more of a bitter humour.

"Yeah," he said, "What the hel.. why were you following me." He had hesitated saying hell, he didn't like using those sort of words in front of his own son and this was still only a kid.

"Wolfram and Hart hired me," the kid said cooly, "They told me to follow you and report to them what you did."

Angel was startled again, the kid wasn't scared so why tell, '_Another one of Wolfram's and Hart's plans? a vendetta against them...?" _he wondered.

"Are you going to let me go?" the kid asked, "I'm starting to get a cramp in my arm."

"Why should I?" Angel asked, trying to hold on to something about this kid and his agenda.

"First of all I lied to Wolfram and Hart about every move you've made, saved your ass. ('_So much for not swearing,'_Angel thought.) Second of I've had thousands of opportune moments to stake you and I haven't taken any of them." the kid finished off.

"And I should believe you because...?" Angel said derisively, how stupid did this kid think he was.

"Last week you were fighting Kangoer demons, after the battle you were pretty beat, you sorta collapsed, I didn't stake you, even though Wolfram and Hart brainwashed me to hate you."

"Oh yeah," Angel said, he hid his surprise, the kid had been following him for a while, "So why aren't you trying to tear my eyes out right now?"

"Wolfram and Hart got a rookie to brainwash me," the boy snorted, "he was an idiot, didn't know the first thing about spells. I had to make a fake fancy light show, his spell wouldn't have work."

Angel wasn't sure why but he felt as if he could trust the kid, he was still cautious though.

"Okay," he said finally making a decision, "I'm going to let go of your arms and your going to turn around slowly, try and run and we won't be having this pleasant little chat anymore."

"Fine with me," the kid answered.

_'What the hell am I doing,'_ Angel thought as he let go of the kid. To his surprise the kid didn't try and escape. Angel was now facing a boy with soot black hair, made for the screen angelic looks and pale skin. The boy was slightly tubby but not extremely so, one corner of his mouth was turned up in a half smile. His eyes were the strangest Angel had ever seen, it was like a humongous fire blazed within them, constantly dancing and raging. The boy was quite tall and had broad shoulders. He wore a gold chain around his neck but it was tucked under his shirt so Angel couldn't see what was hanging from it. His shirt was obviously three sizes too big, it looked like the kid was playing dress up with one of his Dad's old business suits. The sleeves of the shirt were cut roughly, so the kid could actually poke his hands through. His pants hidden under the enormous t-shirt also looked enormous for him, blue sneakers barely poked out of the roughly cut bottom. He had a loosely tied black and white tie hanging from his neck. The kid had a sruffy but comical appearance. Angel saw past that though.

The boy had shadows under his eyes, and he was on the balls of his feet, as if he was expecting to have to run or fight. He looked well cared for so he probably hadn't been living on the streets for long.

"Runaway?" he asked the kid, not unkindly.

"Nah I'm no newbie to the streets like that," the kid said. "My life ain't as bad as those poor kids." there was sympathy in his eyes Angel didn't understand, the kid looked like he had it pretty rough too, but he still felt sorry.

"Why tell me?"he asked, the kid understood.

"Wolfram and Hart are evil, any idiot can see that. Unlike some people I don't root for that side, they always get their come uppance."

"If I had a nickle for every time someone said they didn't work for evil." said Angel, the kid got the point.

"You'd be pretty rich," he said, "You don't have to believe me, personally I don't care, the only reason I'm telling you this is because I don't much like evil, same as you. You don't have to believe me but it's the truth, I've seen what that side can do, I don't much care for it."

Angel still looked at him skeptically, "Sure you don't like Wolfram and Hart, that's why you've been stalking me."

"I wasn't stalking you," the kid scowled slightly, "I was following you, stalking is what perverts do."

"Huh," Angel said, the outburst surprised him, "No it's not."

"Yes it is," the kid said.

"No it's not," snapped Angel, he crossed his arms.

The kid did the same, even more obstinant, "Yes it is."

"No.." Angel started to say but he realised how stupid it was, here he was, a two hundred and fourty year old vampire, fighting with a thirteen- fifteen year old kid. He also knew when he was on the losing side, he uncrossed his arms, "I don't want to fight you over what words are pervert words and what aren't, I just want to know why the hell Wolfram and Hart would send a kid to follow me, what their plan is and what the hell your doing talking to me in the first place."

The kid slowly uncrossed his arms too, his eyes twinkled slightly, "You know the answer to the first question," he said, "I've been following you for nearly a month."

"So your good," said Angel.

"That and some other reasons," the boy mumbled quietly, his face turning dark, Angel caught it though.

"What reasons?" he asked.

The kid shook his head looking slightly annoyed, either at himself or at Angel's question Angel wasn't sure. "Nothing that will affect you," the kid said, "Just my own problems. So what was your other questions?"

Angel saw that that point was closed for discussion so he let it go, but he stored the kid's reaction for later inspection.

"What's Wolfram and Harts plan?" he asked.

"Oh they just wanted to see what cases you were working on, any big bad evil that they can help to beat you." the boy shrugged.

"The usual," said Angel.

"Not surprising is it," said the boy, "Wolfram and Hart are a bit thick headed for an evil law firm, you'd think they would have learned different angles by now."

"So why'd you take the job?" asked Angel.

"Good money," the boy shrugged, "Something to do, anyway it's fun to stuff around with their plans, they get so damn angry, better then Fox. I'm almost going to miss it." the boy sighed.

"What do you mean?" asked Angel.

"Oh I'm getting fired today," the boy smiled wickedly, "You caught me, the contracts terminated, kaput, finito, time for me to move on with my pockets a little heavier from Wolfram and Harts generosity."

"Won't they just kill you?" asked Angel, he knew that's how the law firm usually dealt with people.

The boy raised his eyebrows, "I'd like to see them try," he said.

Angel thought about that for a while, the kid was confident, he felt a slight tinge of worry for him, "You shouldn't take things for granted," he said, "I caught you after months of me not noticing you, anything can... Wait a minute," it dawned on him, "That was on purpose," he accused him.

The kid shrugged his shoulders, "I was getting bored of L.A, I like to wander. Anyway..." he said, scrunching up his nose. "they kept on calling me boy and patting me on the head. This way I don't have to stand them, you don't have to deal with them and they don't get what they want. I think everybody who matters is happy." His smirked, then he simply wasn't there. Angel stared dumbly, then he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and their stood the boy.

"I can go now?" he asked.

"Why are you even asking me?" he said.

"I respect you," the kid shrugged, "I'll answer more questions if you want."

"You can go," said Angel. The boy turned around, Maybe it was because Angel was just a new father, or maybe it was the boy's slightly haunted look but he felt anxious for him.

"Wait," he said, the boy turned around. "If you want to... you know if you ever need... a place to go, or to stay, or even to talk you can come to me." he passed his business card to the kid.

"Help the helpless," the kid said, reading it.

"Yeah," said Angel awkwardly, "that's what we do, you know, help the helpless. Of course I'm not implying your helpless... but if you are that's okay and I can help... but your not... I mean I don't.."

"It's okay," said the kid, "If I ever need help I'll come to you. It's nice you have a place were people can go if things go weird. Most people can't even except the weird things happening to them, let alone finding someone to help."

"It's not only for people with weird things going on.. I mean it is but..." Angel sighed heavily, "Look if things ever get rough or really hard come to me, I may not be an expert about the street but I know some people who can help you, just drop by."

The boy gave Angel a weird look, "It isn't the streets that are bad, it's the things you run from that get to you," he finally said, then he turned and left.

Angel stood their, it was sad seeing kids like that with so many bad things happening in their life. That boy should have been in school, playing around, having fun. It made Angel worry about his own son, he couldn't control what would happen to Connor as he grew older, what things he would experience, all he could do was try and shield him from all the bad things for as long as possible. He supposed that feeling was what made him feel sorry and try and reach out to that kid, sometimes all it took was for someone to care.

_Morning_

"So what are you going to do now?" asked Lilah Morgan. The boy stood in front of her desk, his face impassive. _'He could at least buy some decent clothes_', she thought,_ 'I should think we paid him enough for that._' She, of course, was dressed in the best clothes money could buy skirt, top, even shoes, were all one of a kind.

The boy didn't answer. She smiled at him, trying to put on a friendly front, and leaned across her desk. "You know," she said, "This contract may be terminated but we can always make another, Wolfram and Hart could use someone with your abilities. Your truly something else."

The boy cocked his head to one side, his lips turned up just slightly at the corners. "You know I just may have considered that offer, of course the whole blackmailing thing, it kind of ruined my idea about you guys. Before I only disliked you guys cause your evil and it's the general thing to do. Now I _really_ don't like you guys, you know I'm pretty close to hate."

"Boy," said Lilah, leaning back into her seat, "May I remind you who's in control here, you get in with Wolfram and Hart there's no going back. Did you think that our little threat would just go away once you did one measly job for us."

The kid snorted, "I'm not that naïve," he said, "But I'll tell you something Lilah... DUCK." he suddenly yelled.

Then Lilah's door smashed open, shards of wood flying everywhere. Lilah only managed to scramble under her desk. She peered over the top of it at a humongous demon, it's heads similar to a boars, it stood on two legs with scaly skin and humongous claws. A broad sword was clutched in it's hand, and it was drooling all over the expensive carpet.

"Lilah," it roared, "Kill Lilah,"

Lilah remembered that voice, it was a former client, she couldn't quite recall his name though._ 'Dammit,' _she thought as she remembered who he was. He had payed Wolfram and Hart handsomely to be transferred into a demon's body, luckily a demon clients of Lilah's had wanted to transfer into a human's body. They both wanted handsome and powerful bodies. The demon would get what he wanted but the man wouldn't. Lilah found herself in a pickle when she realised that the man hadn't specified in his contract those nice little details. As the demon _was_ paying more, well you can guess.

"Hey man," said the boy, "I don't reckon you should do that, I mean gaurds are going to be all over here in a few seconds, maybe you should just get out of here."

"Kill Lilah," the demon roared, "Lied to me, kill her."

"You don't have a very big vocabulary do you," the boy said, skeptically.

"Where Lilah," the demon roared, then it took a swipe at the boy. Lilah winced, the Senior Partners weren't going to like this. But to her amazement the boy ducked.

"I'm guessing he's a former client," the boy called to Lilah as he dodged another swipe. Lilah didn't dare answer. The boy used the opening the demon left to punch him in his midsection, the demon howled, It swung it's sword again.

"Please stop doing that," said the boy. The demon swiped at him again. "Hey," he said, "I asked you nicely." He landed a well aimed blow at the demons wrist, Lilah heard a crack, the demon roared with fury and pain, his sword fell, the boy grabbed it before it hit the ground.

"What she did to you was wrong but I know I guy that could fix it," the boy said.

The demon swung at him with his uninjured arm.

"Dammit just listen to me," the boy snapped, "Your human brain must be in their somewhere, just fight the demon instincts."

'_Time to leave,_' Lilah thought, '_He looks distracted enough._' She crawled out from under her desk and slowly around the two, trying to be as small as possible. Then she heard a rip, her skirt had caught on something, "Dammit," she said, "I just bought this." Then she looked up at the demon and the boy staring at her. "Oh don't let me interrupt you," she said, trying to smile, "Carry on."

"Lilah," the demon hissed, then it suddenly grabbed an axe from it's belt and threw it straight at her.

It was like slow motion, Lilah could see it heading straight towards her head. She saw the boy, in reaction, cut off the demons head,_ 'At least he went to hell before me,'_ she found herself thinking, hell the axe was moving pretty slowly, it hadn't even reached her yet. Waut a minute the axe _was_ actually moving slower, as if it was winding down and when it was centimeters from her face it stopped. Lilah could see the boy standing behind it. He looked at Lilah in the eye.

"I'm leaving Lilah and not coming back to L.A, you guys can keep the rest of the money," he said, "I don't want to hear from Wolfram and Hart ever again." then the axe fell to the floor. The boy looked down at the body of the demon, "I don't know who deserved to die," he said bitterly, "I don't think it was him, though." Then he left.

A few minutes later security arrived, _'A bit late_,' Lilah had thought. She had got rid of them and now sat at her desk, writing her report. The office had been cleaned up, a new door was to be installed tomorrow. Lilah couldn't stop thinking about the boy. The senior partners had told them specifically to hire him, told them how to blackmail him, they had also told them to be wary, he was dangerous. Lilah now wondered if he was more then just a boy with a few magic tricks. He certainly fought fine without any magic, and his instincts seemed extremely honed. He hadn't been facing the door when the demon had slammed through. She connected her phone to her secretaries.

"Melanie," she said, "Please get any files we have on..." she realised she didn't know the boys name.

"The boy?" her secretary said, "Everyone is requesting about him, I'll be right on it." she disconnected the phone.

_'Efficient,_' Lilah thought, '_Too efficient_.' Efficient people were often ambitious, Lilah knew. She reminded herself to either fire the girl or have her killed, ambitious people were a threat. '_So by everybody, she probably means Gavin,'_ she thought, she had got Melanie to keep an eye on everything he did, it was always good to be aware, _'I wonder what that little snipes up to now._' She preffered Lindsey much better, at least he had that whole thing with a conscious, Gavin on the other hand was a sleazball. Unfortunately Gavin wasn't dumb, he saw the same thing Lilah did, if this boy had extroadinary powers the Senior Partners must care about him. If _they_ cared it was anyone who wanted to be promoted's job to care too.

**I hope you liked it, I just had this sudden idea and I had to write it down. Please review it and tell me if you want me to write more, I'm not quite sure if people will like this. : )**


	2. So What?

**Boy**

SO WHAT?

"Who's my big man," Angel cooed to Connor, who was laying on the lobby counter, his nappy just changed "Who's my big man." Connor looked up at him and gurgled, his big blue eyes alert and bright. Angel felt his heart bursting with pride.

"So," said Cordelia, "Did he cry a lot last night? When I left he was bawling his lungs out."

"He's a baby," said Angel defensively, "It's what they do, it's normal, isn't it," he lifted up Connor and bounced him up and down lightly.

"I didn't say it wasn't normal," said Cordelia, "I was just.."

"Who's not normal?" asked Gunn, walking into the lobby.

"No one," Angel quickly said defensively, "I mean well I'm not... and I'm not sure about Cordy... Connors normal though." he said lifting him up and using him to shield himself from Cordy's glare, "See a perfectly normal baby."

Just like Angel had hoped the scowl left Cordelia's face as she looked at Connor. 'If I knew that's all it takes to stop her from raving,' he thought, 'I would have had a son years ago.'

"Give him here," she said, taking him from Angel.

"You had him practically all last night," Angel said sulkily, but he relented the baby.

"Well that wasn't my fault," said Cordelia, "I didn't ask the Powers that Be to give me that vision."

"So how'd that go?" asked Gunn, walking towards the couch and dropping himself onto it, "Any difficulty?"

"Not really," said Angel, "Normal Glakslarr demon, standard decapitation, no real trouble, saved the girl. I don't think she'll be following strangers into alleys anymore. At least I hope not... she wasn't extremely bright."

Cordelia gave him a reproachful look, "Well it's true," he said.

"Patrol wasn't bad," said Gunn, " Dusted a few vamps, no sign of real supernatural occurrences, no sign of Holtz, I was kinda scared."

"Well I ran into a strange kid last night," said Angel, "I think he's new to the streets, he's about three quarters of my height, light complexion, black haired, doesn't like to talk.."

"Look who's talking," interrupted Cordelia, "You know I don't think you actually have the right to say that."

"Trust me," said Angel, "He really doesn't like to talk, I didn't even get his name."

"So why's he so important?" asked Gunn.

"I don't know," said Angel, "there was something about him, something... different but familiar at the same time."

"Okay now he's going into his cryptic mood," said Cordelia, exasperated.

"I don't have a cryptic mood," Angel denied.

"Whatever you say," Cordelia replied, shaking her head.

"Gunn?" Angel turned to him.

"How bout this dudes eye colour man," Gun said hurredly, "Anything unusual bout it?"

"Well it was like looking into a flame, it's kind of hard to explain, you wouldn't forget it if you saw it though."

"Well I havn't heard about any newbie like that but I can try Anne, new kids usually go to her place." Gunn said.

"Right," said Angel, "You do that Cordy you can go with him. Cordy..." he repeated, Cordelia wasn't responding.

"Hello Earth to Cordelia," said Gunn, "Come in."

"Shhhh," Cordelia hissed, "I'm trying to listen."

"Ahhh, to what?" Angel asked, slightly puzzled.

"Vision stupid," she whispered.

"Oh," said Angel, "Oh," he said more quietly. He quickly went over and gently took Connor from her arms.

"Ow," said Cordelia suddenly, she jumped back as if she had got a shock.

"What did you see?" asked Angel.

"Oh thanks for the concern," she said, "What I saw was normal, it was what I heard."

"Soo... " continued Gunn.

"Well it wasn't a usual vision, I saw Angel fighting this big black demon, yelling, roaring yadda, yadda, yadda, he chops it's head off, then a girl thanks him. It was about sevenish, I just knew it. I even got an address for you."

"Wow their getting really specific nowadays," Angel said, impressed.

"I think there's a reason it's so specific though," she said worriedly. "The stuff I heard in the background, it was faint but it was their, I only caught a bit of it but it was really... I don't know, confused, scared... lost."

"So what was being said?" asked Angel.

" Stuff like: What happens to me now? I'm a monster..." "Help, that's what I need, help from..." and "It's the things you run from that get to you... "that's all I heard. After that it grew too faint."

"That's a whole lot of help," Gunn said wryly.

"I told you, it was disjointed ,weird, but I got this feeling, after Angel saves that girl, something bigs going to happen, our choices we make after that are going to change our life. And were making them on our own, with no help from the TPB's."

"What do you think Angel?"asked Gunn.

Angel didn't look up, he was looking at Connor, deep in thought, a slight frown on his face.

"Angel," said Cordelia, "Wake up, we have a life changing moment coming up."

Angel shook his head, "That kid...," he muttered.

"Oh.. will you stop thinking about him, in around seven hours are life may change." Cordelia said.

"Yeah but the last thing you said, "it's the things you run from that get to you..." that's what that kid said to me." Angel explained.

"So what?" said Cordelia, "Something drastics going to happen that's going to change our life and your worried about something a kid said?"

Gunn and Angel both looked at her, their eyebrows raised. "Oh," said Cordelia, "So you think the creepy kids got something to do with it."

"He's not creepy," Angel said.

"Well he sounds pretty creepy to me," Cordelia muttered.

"He's not," said Angel, "If you saw this kid... it's sad."

"That classifies as creepy," said Cordelia obstinantly.

"He's not," said Angel, "Stop saying that."

"Gunn," said Corelia, turning to him, "You agree with me, the kids creepy."

_'Great,'_ Gunn thought, he was cornered on both sides by Angel and Cordelia's glares.

"Look does this really matter?" he asked, "Creepy or no creepy this kid has something to do with us."

"All depending on what we choose," said Cordelia, "Don't forget it's our choice and ours alone, fate can't do anything or the Powers That Be."

"Well we'll choose when we get there." shrugged Angel, "Does it really matter?"

"And to think Wesley put this guy in charge when he went off with Fred and Lorne to help that client in Texis." said Cordelia, making a face.

"Hey," said Angel, "I didn't hear anyone complain before when I was their boss."

"You were the boss," said Cordelia, "do you really think I was going to tell you you were doing a bad job?"

"I'm going to get some shut eye," Gunn said quickly, before Angel could open his mouth, "call me when it's around our life changing time." he quickly went to the stairs, leaving Cordelia, Angel and Connor alone.

"Connor thinks I'm doing a good job," said Angel. A loud wail escaped Connors mouth.

"Don't," Angel said to Cordelia's grinning face.

"I wasn't," she said, putting up her hands. "I'll just leave you two alone," she went into the office.

"You couldn't stick up for me could you," Angel said, giving Connor an evil look. "That's it, when you go to school I'm going to _so _show everyone your baby photo's young man."

Connor wailed louder, "Okay, okay, you win," Angel said heading to the staircase and Connor's bottle in his room, while outside lightning flashed and thunder started to growl.


	3. Choices, So Many Choices

Boy

**Choices, So _Many_ Choices**

Angel listened to the spatter of rain on the car windows as he drove. The night should have been perfect, he had rescued the girl who he hoped had had a change for the better, he hadn't lost or damaged anyone, their was just one problem they had been forced to leave Connor with a babysitter. A friend of theirs but still. Anne promised she'd take extremely good care of Connor but she did run a shelter and Angel knew that the people that went there weren't exactly model citizens. Angel had been missing his babies little gurgles a few seconds from being away from him. It wasn't helping him that he wasn't sure how to get back to the part of town he knew. He had never noticed how much of L.A their was, of course Gunn and Cordy's constant prattling in the back didn't help.

"I can't believe one choice is going to change our lives forever," Cordy said for the hundredth time, at least Angel though she had said it before, he was more concerned about Connor.

"You know it's not the fact that one choice can change our lives that's getting to me, it's the fact that we don't know what the choice is." said Gunn.

"So what do you think it is?" asked Cordy.

"I don't know, what do you think it is?"shrugged Gunn.

"I asked first," Cordy sulked.

"Don't mean nothin'" Gunn shrugged again.

"Look, guys," Angel quickly cut in before it could turn into a full assault, "Why are you so worried about it. Does it really matter? I mean when it happens it happens and we'll choose then."

"What do you think it is oh I'm so philosophical?" snapped Cordy. "You know you've already made a lot of choices that have stuffed up your life, were just getting started so would you mind having a bit of sympathy?"

"Hey I've made some pretty damn good choices in my life." Angel said defensively.

"Like what?" asked Gunn, curious.

"I've... I've...I made Connor." he said feeling slightly triumphant.

"Nu, uh mister no hiding behind Connor this time, that wasn't a choice." Cordelia crowed out.

Angel fell silent, the truth was he really couldn't think of a major decision in his life were he made the choice which bettered his life and which helped others, when he was human he made stupid choices, when he was evil he made, well the evil choice.

"Are we all going to make the choice or just Angel?" asked Gunn breaking the awkward silence.

"Don't ask me," said Cordelia, "It's not like they gave me specific details."

The car fell silent again.

"Bilbo," Angel cried out.

"What?" asked Cordelia, jumping.

"Bilbo," said Angel, "I forgot to give her Bilbo."

"I don't think the girl back their wanted The Hobbit, man," said Gunn, confused.

"No Connors teddy bear Bilbo." Angel explained.

"His names Mr. Teddy not Bilbo," said Cordelia.

"No Mr. Teddy was the one that got blown up," said Gunn, "His names Gorilla."

"No," said Angel patiently, "Gorilla had to go in the bin cause Wes accidentally caught him on fire."

"So you called the new bear Bilbo?" asked Cordelia.

"Why not?" asked Angel defensively, "You know The Hobbit is one of the best literature ever. It's never too early to get Connor into this stuff."

"You just dig the little hobbit dude don't you?" Gunn said jokingly. Angel's silence started to scare him, "You know I was just joking," he said quickly, "I know you don't, right?" he asked apprehensively.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Angel said quietly.

"I think he'll be perfectly fine without Bilbo," said Cordelia, "I mean after all he is a strong little man, takes after..."

"Me," Angel interrupted, "I know," he smiled appreciatively.

"I was going to say Darla," said Cordelia.

"Oh," said Angel, his face dropping slightly.

"Yeah man," said Gunn, "you know you got the act down good but we all know your just a huggable teddy bear with fangs inside."

"Am not," said Angel.

"Are so," said Cordelia, raising her eyebrows.

"Take a left here," said Gunn.

'What?" Cordelia and Angel said simultaneously.

"Take a left here, follow it and then take a right, it's a shortcut to the shelter." Gunn explained.

"And you know this how?" asked Cordelia.

"I've been around here before," said Gunn.

"Couldn't tell me that earlier," said Angel.

"You didn't ask,' shrugged Gunn, "Anyway it was fun to watch you go around in circles, pretending you know where your going."

"Your right," said Cordelia giggling.

Angel signaled but before he could turn Cordelia cried out, "What, what is it?" Angel yelled.

"Oh I was just thinking what if taking this shortcut is the major decision, I mean think about it for a second guys.'

"Cordy," said Angel making the turn, "Going a different way is not going to change our lives."

"Anyway even if it is," said Gunn, "It's a bit late isn't it."

0 0 0

"Oy Chudd," the boy called, quickly catching up to the kid. He saw him stiffen slightly, but he didn't turn around. "Chudd man, ain't you gonna' welcome Wolf, your old pal man?" the boy questioned. Wolf, the name he called himself on the streets, the name that now warned others, told them about who he was. It had taken a while to make the name mean something but now it did, he had got the respect from all the rats and he had lost yet another part of himself to do it. But he was young then and he was stupid, at least it benefited him now. Wolf was now only used among some of his friends, the others, no matter how much he tried to stop them, called him The Lion.

He saw Chudds stance relax and he turned around a broad smile on his face. "Hey Wolfman, I haven't seen you in ages man. Haven't been back here since..." he trailed off. The boy saw the pitty in his eyes, he wanted to do anything not to but it was there, so was the emotion as clear as seeing a colour or smelling a smell to him.

"I had stuff to do, places to see," he quickly said.

"Yeah man," Chudd said awkwardly.

"So hows the Chains goin', you guys keepin to the stuff I taught you?" that was what the boy wanted to know, not the stuff he knew... he could see about Chudd if he wanted to.

"Yeah man, no drive bye's and junk like that, we help the Tigrras now and they help us. What you did for us that was great man" Chudd said enthusiastically.

Wolf shrugged, "Didn't do nothin' important," he said. He was feeling increasingly awkward, Chudd's mind was open like a book, he had tried to teach the guys how to close their mind to magic but Chudd had never been good at it and he seemed out of practice. Luckily Anne called out to him at that moment. "I betta go help her," said Wolf, "Keep outa trouble man."

"Are you gonna come to the joint?" Chudd asked , he looked eager.

"Nah sorry man," said the boy, "I... I'm plannin on leavin town, I don't want to be meetin any of 'his' mates or any of those social workers."

"Right," said Chudd, acceptantly, "See ya man." they embraced and then the boy headed towards Anne. She was holding the crying baby and trying to yell at one of the kids for smoking in the place.

"Wolf an you hold the bubb for me,"she said looking grateful to see him. He quickly shook his head, he couldn't hold him, not something so precious and not after everything that had happened, the memories and guilt still haunted him in his sleep.

"I'll deal with the kids for the night, the baby's tired, it's gonna take you a while to get him to sleep." he suggested, he knew a baby's 'I want to go to sleep now', cry when he heard it.

Anne shrugged, "If you want," she said and headed towards her tiny office area. He quickly got the problem solved out making the girl who had smoked feel guilty about it and promise him she'd stop. It was increasingly easy to keep out any trouble or bad behavior when he had most of the younger teenagers loyal to him, the older ones respected him and left him alone, they didn't try anything. Anne came out of the office, grinning.

"You should see him he's so cute when he's sleeping," she said to the boy.

"_Can_ I see?" he asked tentatively, '_Stupid_," he thought, '_Why'd you say that, better not to go in there.'_

"Sure," said Anne, "Just don't disturb him, he has large lungs."

Wolf nodded, it was too late to back down now and he wasn't sure he wanted to. He went to the office, it was dark, a small lamp was the only source of light. He could just see the crib against the wall, it was stored in the cupboard, used only when a new mother landed up at the doorstep. Wolf moved closer into the room, the baby was there he could see it in his minds eye like a lite blue light. He stepped closer slowly, making sure not to make a sound. When he was one step away he stopped, he closed his eyes, the memories seemed to flood him.

"_He sat in his room... no not his room, never his room. It was dull, the man hadn't bothered him, he didn't want him to. He could see it, feel the blackness covered by a mask. He could also smell the alcohol, and strong drinks too. The man wasn't as sweet as he pretended to be to the social worker. He was laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, he couldn't cry, not yet. Why did they leave him, they were his parents, they were supposed to be their. He had nobody, nothing, just this dump to stay in. For God's sake he was only ten years old, he wasn't supposed to be like this to feel like this, not yet. He didn't understand, he had always been different but now... He didn't sit up as the door opened, he could feel the person who walked in, he didn't understand that either. The person was a light blue, so light she was almost white. She walked over and stood in front of him. _

"_I got a cookie if you want one," she said. She could have only been about six, two years younger then him, but what a humongous gap. He didn't reply to her, he couldn't bring himself to. _

"_My mummy went to sleep too," she said, "When she had me. I was why she went to sleep, why did your mummy and daddy go to sleep?" her child voice stated this as if it was a course of fact, a thing everyone knew, her voice wasn't sad it was just a child's. He rose into a sitting position and looked at the girl. Her auburn hair was in two little pigtails, she had big blue eyes, exactly like a babies, her chin had a determined tilt to it. She was dressed in overalls and a multi coloured top. _

"_You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said earnestly. "It's okay, I don't like telling strangers about my mummy either."_

"_I'm a stranger," said the boy. His voice was hoarse and cracked._

"_No," said th little girl, "Your good I can tell. Your my friend."_

"_How can you tell?" he asked._

"_You shine," said the little girl, "You make me happy." She suddenly flung her arms around him and gave him a big hug. After a while he put his arms around her. He could see she was just a baby still, so innocent and little. It made him forget about himself for once, it gave him a purpose. He felt so protective of her, he wanted to keep her innocent forever. _

"_Baby," he said to her, "Thank you."_

He opened his eyes and took the step. He looked down at the cot, the baby was sleeping, it's little hand balled up in a fist, the boy felt his heart burst with... he didn't even know. The baby stirred slightly, he reached out his hand to comfort him with his magic to give him peaceful dreams his hand stood outstretched for a second and then he quickly pulled it away as if he had been burned. '_What are you doing idiot,_' he thought fiercely to himself,_ 'Do you want to destroy his life,... no... better to leave the poor babe alone.' _He was about to turn to the door when a crash reverberated through the shelter. He quickly looked down at the baby, it's eyes were open but it was only looking up at him. It gurgled, it's eyes wide, then it started to cry. He was about to pick him up, try and comfort him protect him...'_Yeah and you did so well the last time,' _he thought bitterly. Alarms seemed to go off in his head all of a sudden, pain laced through him, he stumbled and then it was gone, a roar tore through the place.

"Oh shit," he yelled and quickly ran out of the office to face the damn thing.

It stood in the middle, seven feet tall but hunched over, it's body was that of a tyrannosaurus except it was blue. It had loose skin and hair hanging down from it's body. It's muscles rippled, it's head moved side to side, sniffing. It's red eyes squinted trying to seek out something. The boy stood perfectly still, unsure of what to do, his insides were in turmoil, he didn't know whether to run or fight. The monster sniffed again then it's head turned his way, it gave another earsplitting roar. The boy quickly got in a stance to fight, most of the kids had gotten out of there, their was no one left except him and the monster, then he heard a wail from the office. _'The baby,' _he thought, the monsters head turned towards the sound, saliva dripped from it's jaws.

"Oy," the boy yelled out, "Come and get me," he quickly chucked ball of light and ran, the monsters heavy footfalls told him the creature had forgotten about the baby. _'Now to get out of here,'_ he thought, then he felt the pain. It laced through his back like fire, he hadn't realised the thing was so close, he felt panic rise up in his chest, _'No,_' he thought, '_I can't let them win.'_ He put on a burst of speed, not daring to look behind him, the barred window in front of him shattered, the metal burst, flying in every direction, he could hear the creature howl but he ignored it as he did the cut on his cheek, he quickly vaulted himself through the window and ran.

He was gasping, he couldn't keep running like this forever, he wasn't exactly the fittest guy in the world or the fastest. His back wounds were burning, he had an idea the claws were poisonous. _'Roof,_' he quickly turned into an alley, clambering on to a bin, his breath coming laboriously. He grabbed hold of a ladder on the outside of the building, raising himself up to the staircase he raced up it, the monsters roar tearing the night. The building wasn't high but it was some form of protection, a way to stall the creature for a little while. The boy was sweating he bent over trying to stop from hurling, his head was spinning, then the thing roared again. The boy tentatively stepped towards the side, the thing was trying to claw it's way up the building, roaring out of frustration. He allowed himself a smile. The creature stepped back, then it ran and jumped. The boy's smile immediately disappeared, the creature landed on the roof with a thump, it stared at the boy, it's eyes narrowed. The boy stared back, he walked backwards slowly, the creature matched him step for step. The boy managed to glance a look behind him, he felt fear course through him, he hated heights. The street lights illuminated a car rolling up the street, there was nothing else around, no where to go...

"Hey Mr T Rex," he said grinning at the creature. "I know they sent you after me right but see I have a little disagreement." The creature gave a slight growl, deep in it's throat. "Hey, hey," the boy said, "no need to growl there mister. All I was saying was I don't really want to be you know caged like an animal and experimented on. Not my idea of fun, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna' happen as soon as their troops arrive, hell they were always efficient. I only have a few choices, stay here and get captured, fight with you and get captured, try and get past you get injured and captured or jump off this scary too high for me building. You know I can't really decide between those four so why don't you choose between the last three for me." The creature blinked at him, "Who the hell am I kidding," the boy muttered, "I'm talking to a thing that has no brain I..." He gave a yell as the creature barelled into him with a roar, and then he fell.

0 0 0

"Were almost there," Angel said happily. "I can't wait to see his cute little face."

"Me neither," said Cordelia, squealing.

"Woman," said Gunn rolling his eyes

"Hey," said Angel allowing a glance Gunn's way, "Did you just call me a girl?"

"Angel," Cordelia screamed.

"Cordelia," Angel said, turning to her, "What have I told you about screaming for no reason."

"Look out," she yelled, and then they hit it.

0 0 0

The boy had been tangled up with the creature, it had scraped him badly, he had managed to somehow get himself away from it, twisting in mid air. He had felt slight relief when he no longer felt it's scaly skin and extremely sharp claws right next to him and then he felt impact, someone screamed. He groaned and rolled over, it must have been the car he had seen rolling down the street. The roof had dented under his weight it was about to give, and then he heard the creatures roar. He managed to pull himself up, quickly wiping the blood from his eyes he looked around, the creature lay half on top of the cars windshield and half on the bonnet, it's tail trailing on the ground. It's body was one big bloodville, he could hardly see the blue anymore. It was hardly hurt by it's standards though, the boy knew, it was only stunned and he didn't know how long that was going to last. He quickly prayed no one was in the back and punched his way through the flimsy top, a guy was sitting on the left side, looking up at him.

'What the hell," he said, he was holding a wicked knife up.

"Drive," the boy quickly yelled. He looked around the car, a girl was sitting in the front, Angel was sitting in the drivers seat. The boy's and his eyes met,

"Get in," he said, the boy was about to argue but Angel gave him a hard glare, the boy quickly toppled in through the hole, Angel immediately accelerated the creature slipping off the car and under the wheels, there was a bump and then the boy saw it's body laying on the road behind them.

"What the hell was that," the guy sitting next to him asked, "Cause I'm telling you I haven't seen a demon that butt ugly before."

"I think you mean what _is_ that and it's not a demon," said the boy. The man turned to him questionably and he nodded to what he was looking at out the back window. The creature had staggered up, it shook it's head, and then it stared at them and started to run. It was fast, and gaining on them.

"Angel," said the guy, "I think you betta hurry up, cause our de ...," from a reproachful look from the boy, "Creature, whatever the hell it is has just gotten up and I think it's an Olympic runner ."

"Sprinter or Long Distance?" asked the girl.

"I think it's both," the guy replied.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Angel said defensively.

"Go faster," the boy said, watching the creature gaining on them.

"Don't worry," the girl said, seemingly trying to be reassuring, "Angel can take care of it even if it does catch up to us."

"No he can't,"the boy said, "This thing can't be killed, well only by acid anyway and I don't think any of you are carrying that in your pockets by any chance."

"No luck man," the guy said.

"Angel hurry up," the girl said her voice panicked.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Angel's voice was strained. The car screeched as Angel made a sharp turn, the tires burning asphalt.

The creature was ten metres away now, nine, eight... the boy snapped he wasn't going to let it happen, not what he saw. He could at least try and help Angel and the baby even if they couldn't help him. "Let me drive," he snapped.

"I'm not letting you drive my car," Angel yelled, just as the girl said, "Are you crazy, you won't be able to see over the windscreen let alone driving. You'll kill us all."

" Look you have to trust me," the boy said, "I know this area, I've got a plan." They all looked at him blankly, "For God sake," he growled and quickly climbed into the front, "Shove over," he said squirming his way into the drivers seat, Angel climbed into the back., his feet just managed to touch the pedals and he pushed down hard on the accelerator.

"So what's your plan?" asked Angel.

"This," the boy said, swerving into a main street. He just managed to miss cars by a few centimeters. Horns blasted at him but he wasn't fazed.

"How's this a plan?" the guy in the back asked.

"No backseat driving," he said, his tongue between his teeth, "It applies with plans too. The creature can't be seen by a whole mass of people, it's programmed that way. Main streets equal safe..." the creature slammed into them from in front, launching itself up to the bonnet. It's jaws snapping at the glass which was beginning to crack.

"You were saying," the girl said. The boy was swerving madly, trying to dislodge the thing and avoid other cars.

"How am I supposed to know if they upgraded it." the boy snapped, then the creatures flew off the bonnet, crashing to the side of the car. The boy quickly raced off again, narrowly missing a red four wheel drive.

"Were all going to die," the girl moaned.

"What's the plan now smartass?" the guy muttered.

"Ocean," said the boy. He turned onto a highway leading to the beach.

" What did you say?" asked Angel shrilly, "Did you just say ocean, that's it shove over," He tried pushing his way into the front but the boy pushed him back down.

"Be quiet OK," he said, "You don't even know what my plan is yet."

"Well all I know is this car better not get ruined in the process." Angel growled.

The boy stayed quite.

"Can you see it?" the girl asked craning around in her seat.

"If your talking about the big bad T-Rex it seems to have hitched a ride from the car behind us." Gunn replied.

"Shit," the boy said.

"Do you use that sort of language often young man?" asked Cordelia, giving him a stern look.

"Yeah," said the boy, "Every day. Whats it to you?"

"I'll tell you what's it to me, a child who has a potty mouth is the one who holds our fate in his hands and we just have to sit back and watch as he is about to kill us with his reckless driving." Cordelia yelled at him.

"I'm not a child," the boy said indignantly.

"You got that right," muttered Cordelia, "Your a maniac."

"Am not," the boy said.

"Are too," the lady replied.

"Am not," the boy yelled at the top of his lungs.  
"Are too," the lady yelled back.

"I think you just missed the turn," Angel said.

"Hold on," the boy yelled, he did a sharp u-ey, the tires screeched and the car groaned. He did another sharp turn, landing himself on the road to the beach.

"Wooohoo," the guy in the back yelled. "You sure know how to drive man."

"I think we lost it," Angel said.

"Thank God," the lady sighed happily.

The boy allowed himself a smile, he'd done it, avoided the thing he'd seen. He allowed his foot to rise off the gas slowly, then he looked at the mirror. He immedietly slammed his foot down, his smile disappearing. He knew it wasn't that easy but...

"What are you doing?" the lady screeched.

"It's behind us," the boy said.

"Uh-oh." the boy wasn't sure who that came from.

The boy was heading towards the sea, he knew if he could just reach it they'd be okay.

"I think you better hurry up," Angel said. "it's coming at us fast."

"This piece of crap isn't exactly a racing car, so hundred is about as fast as it's gonna go. I'm already pushing it." the boy growled through gritted teeth.

"It's not a piece of crap," Angel said defensively.

"Sure it isn't," the boy muttered.

"It's only about ten metres away," said the guy.

"Cordy can't you levitate the car or something," Angel asked.

"No," said the lady, "I mean even if I could I don't know how."

"Duck," the boy said suddenly, then the thing jumped. It hit the roof with a loud thump, it nearly caved in but held up. The boy swerved the car, trying to dislodge it like he had before, no such luck. Claws ripped through the top, a roar resonating through the car. The boy ignored it now, racing straight towards the beach. When he reached the sand he quickly turned the car to the right. The creature was almost through, 'Just hang there for a little,' he thought, 'Just a little more.' Then he saw it, the jetty.

"Leverage," he said. He aimed the car towards it then they went over and into the water.

0 0 0

The water hit him like ice, the car started to fill up. It was sinking to the bottom.

"Everyone okay?" Angel called.

"If you call having a humongous lump on your head okay." the lady named Cordy groaned.

"Were is that thing," the guy muttered.

"Probably at the bottom," said the boy.

"Okay when I count to three were all going to open our doors," Angel called, "Swim for the top. One, two...three."

The boy slammed his door open quickly, the water hitting him like a wave. He pushed against it, moving his legs frantically, trying to push his way to the top. Then he felt a sharp pain on his leg. He looked down to see the creature, it's jaws clamped on his leg. Blood was staining the water a dark crimson. 'Loyal to the end,' he thought. He tried kicking at it frantically, trying to get it off him, it wouldn't budge it's jaws placed firmly. 'I'm gonna go down with it,' he thought. The water seemed to press in on him, his lungs were starting to burn. He thrashed frantically the creature wouldn't let up, by the time it ran out of oxygen and strength he knew he'd be dead. The boy's vision started to grow dark, his mouth opened up, he was gulping down water, unable to stop, he was filling up. Someone was tugging on his arm trying to pull him up frantically. The burning on his leg was still there, the pressure and the weight not letting up. The boy managed to collect some of his power collecting it in his hand he pushed it down as heat towards where he thought the creature would be, then the pain stopped and he was being pulled upwards.

0 0 0

"Is he alright," he heard the ladies voice.

"You betta give him CPR," he heard Angel say.

"Yeah he's right," said the guy.

"Why can't..." the girl started to say. The boy quickly sat up, gulping in deep breathes of air. "I'm fine," he spluttered, "No need for CPR, I'm fine."

They waited twenty minutes for him to recover, dragging themselves to the road they waited for a car to appear. None of them said a word they were all too exhausted. Angel looked towards the ocean, his mouth set in a pout.

"It's about the car isn't it," said the boy, he had guessed right. "I'll buy you a new one already just get over it."


	4. Helping

HELPING

They walked into the lobby, the boy gave a low whistle, looking around the place in amazement.

"Nice crib you got," he said awed.

"Thanks," said Angel smiling lightly. "Are you going to have a shower or do you just want a change of clothes?"

"Look," said the boy uncomfortably, "You don't have to do anythin' for me, I told you I would have found a way back home. I mean, it's nice the thought, but I don't need anythin."

"We have a weapons cabinet," said Gunn, the boy's face seemed to light up.

"I think I'll take that change of clothes. Of course it's gonna take you a while to find it so why don't I just look at the cabinet while I'm waiting." He trotted after Gunn towards it.

Angel headed for the phone but Cordelia had beat him to it. He waited there impatiently finally she placed it back in it's cradle.

"Connor's fine," she said, "Anne said she'll drive him up here cause the place emptied out, she's on her way."

"You know if you'd just been a bit nicer to that guy we would have been able to pick him up ourselves." Angel muttered.

Cordelia slapped him lightly on the arm, "I am never going to be used as the hitchhiker girl again understand." she said, "That guy was so undressing me with his eyes."

"Well I doubt anyone would ever pick us up if I was standing there with stelletos and tight fitting jeans."

"Ha ha ha," said Cordelia, "It's not happening again understand. I'd rather walk"

"Probably have to," said Angel glumly.

"Awww does baby miss his car," said Cordelia.

"Hey I've had that car for ages, it was sorta part of me."

"Get over it. We've got more pressing matters."

"Like what?" Angel asked curiously.

"Like the kid," Cordelia replied. "When I got a chance to have a look at him I got this vibe, he needs help. It's not only the vibe it's obvious, really plain, like with the things he does and says."

"Like what?" asked Angel skeptically.

"Cool axe," the boys voice travelled from where he was talking with Gunn. "I know a guy who got his hand chopped off by making one of these."

"Ouch," Gunn said wincing.

"That's what you get when you try and make an axe when your high," the boy said grimly, "Never liked the guy, he deserved what came to him."

"Like that," Cordelia said pointedly.

"What am I supposed to do about it?" asked Angel, "I don't think he'll take our help."

"Do one of those talks your so good at," Cordelia said. " I don't know. All I know is you can't let the kid walk out of here, not until you at least try and make him see that we can help."

"Why don't I just ask him if he needs help?" Angel asked, unclear on the matter.

"Because," said Cordelia, "The kid's not going to tell you, he'll be embarassed and probably scoot first chance he gets. You have to do it the careful and unobserved way."

'Why's it always me," Angel grumbled.

"Cause your the pep talk guy,"said Cordelia firmly, "Now go pep."

"I can't do it straight away, it will be too obvious."

"I don't care when you do it," said Cordelia, "As long as you get it over with."

Angel headed towards Gunn and the kid but then veered towards the staircase, 'I'll get him those clothes first,' he thought. It took him almost half an hour to find the kid some clothes, in the end he just grabbed some of his undamaged ones. Then he decided to change himself, water staining the carpet, a trail of were he had been walking. After he had got that all over with he went downstairs.

The kid was sitting on the couch, looking around the room awkwardly. There was no one else in the lobby. The kid quickly jumped up when he saw Angel.

"Anne brought Connor back, Cordelia's taken him to bed and Gunn's gone to change. I didn't touch anythin' I swear."

"Okay then," said Angel slowly, the kid's behavior startling him. "Whatever you say."

There was an awkward silence.

"I got you some clothes, they'll probably be big for you but their all I had." He chucked the clothes to the kid who grabbed them. He inspected them a smile on his face.

"Their hell good," he said enthusiastically.

'You can change in one of the rooms or the office if you want," Angel said, unsure what to say. The kid hesitated then headed for the office.

He came out after a while, his wet clothes bundled in his hands. The pants and top were as big as his former clothes but they were better quality. The dark blue softened his eyes.

"I guess I'll go now," the boy muttered, he headed towards the garden door, Angel following behind.

"Wait," Angel said, the boy stopped. Angel took in a deep breath then he plunged. "I've seen a lot of things over the years, people struggling through life I once met this..." then he stopped, he didn't have a story for this one... he started to panic. The boy looked at him expectantly. "I once met this girl, her name was... um... it doesn't matter. Anyway she was struggling through life and..."

"How was she struggling?" the boy asked suddenly."

"Well... she..." Angel was stumped, "That doesn't matter, anyway she was struggling and she never asked anyone for help."

"Why didn't she ask anyone for help?" the boy asked again.

"I don't know, because she though she was alone. Anyway she died."

"How?"

"She died because... of exploding because she never asked anyone for help." Angel said quickly. He groaned inside, the boy just blinked at him. "The point of this is though that we don't have to be alone. This lady chose that path but it's not necessary. We are stronger together then we are apart. When you ask someone for help it's not a shameful thing, theirs nothing wrong with it. You become stronger when other people help you and you defeat whatever problem you have. I've asked for help tons of times and I've helped others too, if anyone ever needed to stay here, needed help I'm always prepared to give it. No one has to deal with things alone."

There was a pause as they stood there, looking upon the garden and it's life.

"Okay I'll be going now," the kid said, heading down the stairs, Angel quickly grabbed him.

"You weren't listening were you," Angel said dryly.

"Yes," the boy said defensively then he slowly nodded his head, "No your right, Not really."

"How far did you get?"

"Up to the part with the lady and her exploding tendencies."

Angel sighed heavily, "Look I'm just going to ask you this, do you need help?"

There was a silence.

"That obvious huh," the boy finally said.

"We can help you," Angel said gently.

"You don't want to do that," the boy said emphatically, "Everyone who I get close to..." he stopped himself.

"We can take care of ourselves," said Angel evenly.

"I almost got you killed today, that thing was chasing after me," the boy hung his head, "I'm trouble."

"And I'm a vampire who can loose his soul now and again," Angel shrugged, "We can handle it. Anyway I don't think your the trouble, I think it's what your running from. Why don't you tell me about it?"

"No ones ever tried to help me before," the boy said quietly.

"Try it."

There was a silence for a while, both thinking about what the other had said.

"Yeah I guess," he hesitated then went on, "Thanks."

"It's what I do," Angel said, shrugging. They went back inside the hotel.

0 0 0

Lilah sat among the files, they rose up like mountains around her. Unfortunately information about the boy could only be read in Wolfram and Hart's filing place. So here Lilah was, searching among the files. The helpful filing girl was off duty, Lilah was on her own, besides Gavin hidden from view on the other side of the mountains. Lilah had nearly finished though, she only had one last paper to read. She reached out for the paper, placed on top of one of the piles. She tugged on it but it wouldn't budge, 'Gavin,' she thought. Rising she saw him doing the same thing one hand clutching the paper like her.

'I got it first," he said.

"Give it here big baby I'm almost done."

"Well so am I," Gavin said.

"Why are you even reading this stuff?" Lilah asked, "It's not like you actually think their going to put you on this case."

"I have more chance then you," Gavin replied, "You think their going to put you on this case, this kid needs a nudge in our direction that's all, I'm the one who's going to be doing the nudging.'

"Right, well while you would be the good dog I'm going to be the one who makes sure he falls in love with Wolfram and Hart, making sure he makes a connection. Now give it back." she tugged on the paper, Gavin nearly falling back but he kept hold of it. Both of them tugged on it, "Your going to rip it,"Lilah said through gritted teeth.

"No you are." Gavin muttered.

The paper teared, Gavin looked at it his face white. Lilah dropped it, quickly opening the cabinet it came from. There it was, an exact copy of the thing. She stood up, holding it in her hand, triumphant.

"I'm going to make sure that boy makes that final step Gavin, because that's what I'm here for, unlike you, to help."

"Who yourself or Wolfram and Hart?" Gavin asked.

"Now that would be telling wouldn't it," Lilah said, smiling.


	5. Getting to Know You

**Boy**

CHAPTER FIVE

**GETTING TO KNOW YOU**

They sat in the lobby on various chairs, the boy sat on the couch, the focus of all their attentions. It was morning already, a few hours after Angel had convinced the boy to stay. The boy had eaten and Angel had gone to have a sleep. Now here they all were, refreshed, fed and washed.

"So that thing was after you why again?" asked Cordelia, the others called her Cordy, but the boy had found that was her name.

"It was created by a company, they study strange occurances, strange things. Their not evil like Wolfram and Hart more self interested. They work for the government in a way, situated in every country, they study demons, magic, try and think of ways to create weopens which can gaurentee won battles. They want power, for themselves, they'll do anything to get it."

"So why are they after you?" this question put forward by Gunn.

The boy hesitated, he didn't tell people about these things, the one time he had the person had ended up entangled in it and it had ended worse for them. They waited for him, then Connor gurgled, he had woken from his nap and was now rested on Angel's lap. The boy looked at Connor then he continued.

"I have magic," he paused waited for them to laugh at him or cringe back or throw him out then and there. None of them moved.

"Is that it," said Cordelia, "I think that was a bit obvious to all of us."

The boy shifted in his seat, he had forgotten they were used to this stuff, they understood it. If only that was it, but it wasn't. Maybe he could just pretend it was, they wouldn't know.

"Go on," the boy looked up at Angel. "There's more, so go on. Tons of people have magic in this world, tell us what's so special about yours."

"My magic... I... people I can see paths in their lives, where it will lead, what's going to happen, that's only when I want to though, it takes a lot out of me though. I can also see peoples past, good things and... the bad's the worst, the most clearest. I try and shut that off, cloud it. I can collect my magic do whatever I want with it, make it into heat, cold, light..."

"Your a Free lancer," said Angel, a look of understanding coming across his face.

"What?" asked Gunn, Cordelia's face showed equal confusion..

"A Free Lancer has powerful magic. They can do whatever they want with it without having to make spells, incantations, even moving their bodies. The more powerful of them can see things in people," Angel explained, " I've read about them and heard from the more older of our kind. Their extremely rare, they only come around every few million years, people say Merlin was one. Only one can be in the world at one time."

"So their chasing after you to get you to do stuff for them huh?" said Gunn. "Having a Free Lancer's like having an atomic bomb on their side."

The boy was quiet, "Uh... not quite." he said.

"I knew you weren't older then fourteen, said Angel triumphantly.

"Hello can you guys speak English," said Cordelia.

"I can pass my power on to someone else, until I'm fourteen. Once that happens my powers stuck in me." the boy explained, he was quiet, looking at the carpet.

"Oh I get it," said Gunn, "You won't work with them so now they want your power. That way they get to do whatever they want without having to persuade you to do it."

"I don't get why they don't just get someone from another dimension." said Cordelia suddenly.

"Huh?" they all looked at her.

"Well I mean were all familiar that there are other dimensions out there, other possibilities. Well their has to be forms of other Free Lancers, they could just find an evil one or one that will work with them and use it."

"When they say one in the whole world they mean the whole world Cordy, and for all the others too."Angel explained.

"Yep," said the boy, giving a grin, "When I say I'm one of a kind I can honestly say I'm not exaggerating."

"So," said Gunn, "How old are you?"

"Thirteen, my birthdays in June," the boy replied.

"Oh," said Cordelia quietly.

"How long have you known you had the powers?" from Angel.

"Always," the boy replied, "I only learnt about being a Free Lancer when I was ten though. That was when they started to chase me."

"Do you have parents?" Angel was watching him carefully.

"That stuff doesn't matter," the boy said, his throat suddenly dry.

"It does to me?" Angel said. Then the bulb in the lobby desk shattered, they all spun around to look at it, except the boy. Connor started to cry from the sudden noise. Angel turned to him, standing up and rocking him, talking soothingly. Connor soon calmed down.

"I'm sorry," the boy said.

"It's okay," said Angel.

"It can be replaced," said Cordelia brightly, "It was a pretty dim light anyway."

"Don't you people know anything," Lilah's voice came from the doorway. They all looked up, except Angel, who didn't even blink. He kept on soothing Connor.

Lilah walked in, leaving the door open, it created a splash of light. She stayed in it walking as close as it would allow her to them. Gavin followed behind, holding his sly and 'I'm so good' looks. They stood in front of them all, Lilah smiled.

"Isn't this so nice and cosy," she said. "Sitting around, talking about how much power is bubbling inside us, how were ticking time bombs waiting to happen. I feel so good."

"Lilah why don't you be quiet, said Gavin, "I'll be doing the talking here."

Lilah turned to Gavin, "Excuse me, what did you say, I'm the one with the most experience about this case. You can threaten them about their oh so scary losing house predicament later."

"Why don't you just get off _my_ case Lilah,"Gavin replied.

"I can't you idiot," she snapped, "They assigned it to both of us."

"Yes well that shan't last long. They'll soon see I'm the one better suited for this job."

Angel turned around, "You know I really should have kicked you too out by now, but your just so damn funny."

"What are you doing her," said Gunn, standing up.

"Were here representing Wolfram and Hart," said Gavin, "We want to talk to young Rick here."

Lilah rolled her eyes. "Idiot, she muttered under her breathe.

"Whatever you wanna' say to him you can say to us," Gunn said, taking a step to stand by the couch.

Rick looked at them, his eyes sharp, "How'd you find out my name?" he said.

"Yes it's really hard as you don't ever tell anyone it, but apparently we have a whole row of cabinet files on you."

"And I thought that was only for me," Angel sighed in mock sadness.

"Oh your not the only special thing in this world, don't flatter yourself," Lilah said, she turned back to the boy. "Haven't told your friends yet have you," she said smiling and throwing a file at his feet, "Richard O'Brian."

"Irish background," Angel said to Rick, smiling. His eyes never left Lilah or Gavin.

Rick stood up, his face impassive. "I told you I want nothing to do with Wolfram and Hart," he said, his eyes flickered dangerously.

"And I told you contracts can't always be terminated when you want them to be," Lilah said, her face just as impassive. They didn't break eye contact, didn't blink didn't move.

"Look," said Gavin, stepping in front of Lilah. He put on a friendly tone, at least what he thought was a friendly tone, "I know you've had it pretty rough through life but that's what Wolfram and Hart is here for. All we want to do is help you. All _you _have to do is trust us."

The boy gave a bright smile, "You know I would say go to hell but your already going there." he shrugged, "What you gonna' do."

Gavin blinked, obviously he hadn't thought his stirring speech would be rejected. He was finally able to collect himself though, "The offers always open, just walk through our doors."

"Yeah I'll do that when I decide to sell my soul." Rick scoffed, "Nothing in this world comes without a price, _especially _Wolfram and Hart. I'm not _that_ stupid."

Laughter suddenly erupted behind them. They turned around to look at Cordelia, who was doubled over. "I get it," she spluttered. "They send Dragon Lady and The Shrimp to turn a thirteen year old boy to the dark side." She looked at them, "You guys might as well have sent Barney," she said, "I mean come on, ones scary and the others... well he's just full of himself. Were talking about a kid here, not an idiot."

"I'm not a kid," the Rick said defensively.

"I think our little chats done," said Angel, walking towards Gunn he passed Connor over. "Now why don't you two go run home."

"I don't think so," said Gavin, he walked forward, trying to put on an intimidating front.

Lilah smirked, "Bad move," she said.

Angel, in one smooth movement grabbed Gavin, who was now out of the suns protection. He lifted him up, holding him up to his face, "Don't make me ask twice," he said, his voice low and chilling. He pushed Gavin away.

Gavin quickly backed away, "This isn't the last time you'll be hearing from me," he said.

_'If only,'_ Angel thought, he looked hard at Gavin, who quickly walked out.

"Now we've gotten rid of him," Lilah said smiling.

"Lilah, Angel said, warning.

"There's no point on going all vamp on me Angel," she said smiling, "I know theres not a thing you can do to touch me. And your associates," she said looking at Gunn and Cordelia, "Well are you really willing to put down the little tyke, even for a minute."

Angel tensed at the slight threat to his son, he walked as close to Lilah as he could while still staying in the shadows. But before he could utter a word a voice rang out from behind him.

"How fast can you run Lilah?" Rick asked her. They all turned their attention towards him. He held a ball of fire, it flickered in his hand, crackling. He was batting it from one hand to the other, not taking his eyes from it. "Five seconds from now and this, well I can make it follow you around, should be funny. When it catches you, well it's a shame that skirt is quite pretty."

Lilah looked at him, "Your bluffing," she hissed.

"I was always taught never to tell lies Lilah, believe me those lessons stuck." he smiled bitterly, the ball of fire made his eyes seem to blaze, to glow.

"Five..." he started to count, Lilah glanced at Angel, who was looking at her, his eyes cold.

"Four..." she looked towards Cordelia and Gunn, they were looking at the boy, probably trying to figure out if he was bluffing or not too.

Three..." she looked at the boys cold gaze and then her eyes rested on the hungry fire crackling, resting on the palm of his hand.

"Fine then," she snapped, already backing towards the door. She looked at Angel and the boy, "Geesh you people are just obsessed with the threats aren't you. I'm surprised your not joined at the hip." Then she disappeared through the door, it closed with a bang behind her.

The fire seemed to recede back into the boys skin, his palm glowed for a moment then it was gone.

"Did you see her face," said Gunn, "I wish we had you before man," he said turning to the boy.

"You weren't really going to chuck it at her, were you?" asked Cordelia. "I mean I really, really don't like her, but you weren't were you."

Angel was also gazing at him intently , waiting to see his reaction.

The boy grinned at them, as if to reassure them, "I would have just got it to chase her, it wouldn't have actually harmed her."

Cordelia seemed satisfied with his answer but Angel wasn't so sure.

**Thanks for reviewing, please keep it up. I'm so happy people actually like it YAY. Hope u liked.**

**Sairra : p.**


	6. Messing Around

**MESSING AROUND**

Rick or Ricko as he told them to call him, sighed heavily. Cordelia and him were sitting at the counter, Angel and Gunn had left previously on a case, leaving Cordelia behind with the baby, and Ricko guessed him too. Cordelia was skimming through a magazine, filing her nails, Connor was sleeping in his crib and Ricko, well, he wasn't doing anything. He gave a heavy sigh again, Cordelia looked up from reading about Britney's new weight gain.

"So," she said, "Do you have any other powers?"

"Not really," said Ricko, "Not anything real special."

They lapsed into an awkward silence, Cordelia waited for... Rick... to make the first move, th kid was just gazing at Connor, not saying much.

"Do you have a brother or sister?" she asked. Ricko shook his head, " Only child huh." Cordelia said in an understanding tone, "Sometimes that sucks. You can hold him if you like, when he wakes up."

The change in Ricko was amazing, he jumped up from his perch on the counter, his face went pale, he quickly looked away from Connor, walking towards the weopens cabinet.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked, slightly startled by his sudden movement. Ricko didn't reply, he seemed to be inspecting the weopens in the cabinet.

"You don't want to get close to me," he suddenly said, quietly, "I shouldn't even be here."

"Why not?" asked Cordelia.

"Bad things follow me, they always happen around me, especially people I get close to."

Cordelia snorted Ricko turned around to face her, surprised. "You sound exactly like Angel in his more broody days. He was always pushing people away, I can see why he thought you were familiar."

"That's weird," Ricko said frowning, "He seemed familiar too." There was silence for a while, Ricko turned back to the weopens cabinet.

"So your real name is Richard?" Cordelia said.

"You thought it would be something weird didn't you?" he said.

"Well of course," said Cordy as if it was obvious, "I mean every hero I've met has has a weird name. Angel, Doyle, Gunn, Fred, Wesley, Lorne oh don't forget Buffy, what's up with that anyway."

"Who's she?" Ricko asked.

"A girl from my old hometown Sunnydale, she has a whole history with Angel." Cordelia said, lightly.

"I don't know what my parents were thinking," said Ricko turning around and grinning at Cordelia, "Instead of calling me some cool name like Blade or something they called me Richard."

"Blade is not a cool name," said Cordelia, "It's just lame."

Ricko gave her a scowl, "I think it's cool anyway."

"You have no taste," she said.

"Do so," Ricko crossed his arms.

"I know what taste is," said Cordelia, "And you definetly do not have it."

"Does your computer work?" the boy asked suddenly, his attention turning to the machine on the desk.

"No it's just for show," Cordelia's voice dripped with sarcasm.

There was silence for a while, "Can I use it?" Ricko finally asked, "I need to check something on the internet, I'll pay for the connection."

"Were not that cheap," said Cordelia, slightly inidignant.

Ricko's face brightened, he quickly walked over and hopped on the chair in front of the monitor. "Thanks," he said, "I wasn't saying you were cheap."

"So what are you looking up?" Cordelia asked.

"Porno sites," the boy said.

"What," said Cordelia, shocked. Then she realised the boy was smiling. "Give me a heart attack why don't you?" Cordelia growled, trying to look annoyed.

Ricko connected to the internet, Cordelia pretended to go back to reading her magazine, but she watched what he was doing from the corner of her eye. She realised he had the police site up, he clicked some keys and, "Excuse me," Cordelia said, forgetting her uninterest, "But we don't hack into police files here mister."

"Isn't that what your supposed to do," Ricko asked slightly confused, "You _are _a detective agency."

"Yes but if you do it wrong you can be caught and do you know what happens when your caught, you go to jail. So no hacking." she grabbed for the keyboard , but Ricko quickly blocked her.

"Stop it," he said finally, "Look I've done this a million times before." Cordelia stopped scrabbling, looking at him disbelievingly. "I'm serious," Ricko said, "I've had to, done it since I was ten." he smirked, "and I never get traced."

"Fine then mister, but I have to know what your using it for," Cordelia scowled.

"I'm tracing this guy who used to work for The Agency," Cordelia raised her eyebrows, "It's what the guys who are after me call themselves. Anyway he can tell me some stuff about what's going on with them, I've sorta lost touch for a while and they've updated their Tracknars, the creature that attacked us. They made them to track me especially, I can't touch them with my magic."

"Fine then," Cordelia said, "But that betta be all your using it for."

"I'm done," the boy said thirty minutes later. Cordelia had been watching behind him the whole time.

"Is that it,' Cordelia said , slightly disappointed.

"Yap," the boy replied, "Unless..." he left the sentence hanging.

"What," snapped Cordelia, "Unless what?"

"This is the FBI site, they have everything on everybody. Every dirty little secret... Are there any people you've wondered about?"

He looked innocently up at Cordelia, "Why not," she said, breaking under the pressure.

Ricko gave her a mischevious smile, "Just tell me the name," he said, fingertips resting on the keyboard.

"Your evil ya know that." Cordelia growled, knowing he had drawn her in on purpose.

"Just give me a name."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cordelia leant on Ricko's chair, laughing hard. They were eating popcorn and looking up some of Cordelia's least favourite people in highschool.

"Oh I can't believe that, last time I saw her she said she was working as a fashion designer." Cordelia giggled.

"The files don't lie," Ricko said grinning, "Now apparently she's a toilet cleaner."

"I know I shouldn't laugh at that but she is always so high and mighty and she was an even worse cow then I was in highschool."

"What are you guys doing?" Angel's voice came from the lobby door, Gunn was following behind him.

Cordelia froze, here she was supposed to making sure Ricko didn't get into trouble and instead she was encouraging him to commit a felony.

"Oh we just found this site with great jokes on it," Ricko said, looking at them both and smiling charmingly. '_How the hell does he lie so well,'_ Cordelia thought, slightly envious, she was a pretty good lier but Angel always seemed to catch her out.

"Hey I love a good joke," Gunn said, " And I think I'm gonna need one," he looked down at himself, he was covered in green... gloop was the only word to describe it."What site is it?"

"W w w dot funny mail dot com ," Ricko said, another perfectly innocent smile flashed Gunn and Angel's way.

"Oh yeah that's a good one," Gunn said.

"So what was blocking Miss Felspies drain?" Cordelia asked, trying to look interested.

"Cronan demon," Angel said, "Short, ugly, cut of it's head and it's gutts squirt everywhere. So how was my little guy." he walked to Connors crib, behind the counter, looking down at the sleeping baby.

"Oh he was beautiful as always," Cordelia said smiling, looking down at him too. "He's slept like baby and I'm talking about the metaphorical term, not a literal one."

Gunn walked over and looked down at him too, "I wish I could sleep like that," he said, "Life as a baby is so easy."

"If only you could have stayed as cute as a baby," Cordelia said, "Sadly fate was against you."

"Hey," said Gunn, trying to grab her with his demon goo hands, "That was extremely insulting."

"Hey, hey," Angel said, "Demon goo away from the baby,"

"I'm gonna' wash up," Gunn said, "Then were going to finish this," he directed an evil look Cordelia's way.

Cordelia yawned heavily, her eyes seemed to droop, "Hey why don't you go home," Angel said gently, "Your looking pretty tired."

"I think I'll do that," Cordelia smiled, "I feel like I'm gonna drop right now."

"Take Gunn's truck,' Angel said, grabbing the keys from the office, "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Cordelia grabbed the keys and gave Connor a little peck on the cheek, the baby stirred a little but then went back to sleeping soundly. "See ya in a few," she said, then it was only Ricko, Connor and Angel.

Angel sighed heavily, dragging off his coat, "There's another one ruined," he grumbled. He bundled it up and pushed it into the bin, then he lent against the counter, sighing again. The coat had go the brunt of the demon goo, Angel covering himself with it, he was pretty clean. He still wanted a shower to get the feeling out but they had agreed silently to each other, to have one of them with the boy constantly, it looked like it was his watch. Ricko turned off the computer, turning to him.

"So..." he said, obviously he was trying to make an attempt to conversation, Angel waited but so seemed as far as he was going to be able to go.

"Cordy and you seem to be getting along." Angel said.

"I like her," Ricko nodded solemnly, "She's a nice person, the nicest lady I've ever met... oh... except Anne."

"You know Anne?" Angel asked, anything he could learn about the kid was helpful to finding out were he had come from.

"Yeah," Ricko said, "I've stayed at the shelter a few times, I like to help out there and it's a place where I can catch up on some of my old friends."

Angel nodded, "So how long have you lived on the streets?" he asked, Ricko looked at him as if he was wondering wether to tell him or not, weighing him up. Angel let him take his time.

"I live off and on,ever since I was eleven," he said, "It depends... The streets are more of a home to me then any other place."

"What does it depend on?" Angel asked, Ricko shrugged.

"Wether the police catch me or not, and don't forget the other guys chasing after me." Ricko said, "I have a pretty penny I've inherited so they try and stuff me in all these foster homes, problem is I don't trust any, I can't cause don't know which one will hand me over to the Agency."

Angel didn't say anything, didn't show pitty, he guessed Ricko would just be embarrassed by it. People dealed with things in weird ways, and most didn't like to know you were trying to help them. Angel had learnt to be dicreet about things like that.

"Have they ever caught you?" he asked after a while.

"If they had I wouldn't be talkin' to you right now,' Ricko said, "No one ever gets out of their place, not the ones they want to stay in."

"What about your parents?" Angel asked, "Were are they?"

"What's it with you and parents," Ricko said, jumping off his chair and shaking his head, "You gotta get over this obsession."

Angel didn't push further, he knew Ricko wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. Ricko stood next to Connor's crib, there was silence again. Ricko leaned over and gently picked up a teddy bear that had fallen out of the crib. He held it, looking at it as if it were a precious thing.

"That's Mr Bilbo," Angel said, smiling slightly, "Do you know him."

Ricko shook his head,

"_Ricko, Ricko, look what Dad bought me." Ricko looked out from his good eye, the other one was puffy and black, he ached all over, but he manage to smile for her. _

"_That's a cute one Baby, almost looks like you, except it's a lot more cuter." he teased. _

"_That's not funny," she said, sticking out her tongue. _

"_So what are you going to call it," he asked_.

"_His names Sirius after the dog star you were telling me about." she said, "You do like him don't you?" she asked anxiously._

"_Yeah, sure I do babe, can you do me a favour though, stay outta' Steve's way today okay, he's got a real bad headache."_

"_But I thought today was one of Dad's good day's, he bought me the teddy bear," she held it out as if pleading with him._

"_Yeah well he still ain't so good, you can play with Sirius in here, we can have fun right, maybe tomorrow Steve will be in a betta' mood." _

"_Okay," she said, she put the teddy bear in his lap, "I'll go get Barney." _

_He picked it up, inspecting it, "It was a pretty cute teddy bear and wouldn't come cheap, at least Steve had kept to their deal, now if only Ricko could hold on too._

"I was more of a Barney person myself for some weird reason," he said, "Only stuff toy I ever owned, I think that had somethin' to do with it." He placed the bear carefully on the counter.

"Can you fight?" Angel asked.

"Yeah," Ricko nodded.

"So how about a bout," Angel said, standing up he headed towards the weopens cabinet.

"What," Ricko stared at him dumbly, he followed him out form behind the counter.

"Well your going to be staying with us and things always seem to come crashing through the door so I need to know how well you fight." Angel grabbed a sword and chucked it to him. "Just don't make too much noise, you know cause of Connor."

"Okay," Ricko said, smiling brightly. He caught the sword.

Angel started to step, Ricko following the his footing,_ 'At least he knows something about fighting,_' Angel thought. _'Now to find out how much._' He came at Ricko, aiming a light blow to his side, Ricko blocked him, stepping away at lightning fast speed. Angel hit again, this time aiming for his midsection, Ricko pushed his blade away, dancing away quickly.

"Don't hold back," Angel said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to get hurt. I can take care of myself." Ricko looked at him, then nodded slowly. Angel striked again, Ricko blocked it then flashed his blade towards Angels throat, Angel just managed to block him. Their blades flashed, back forth, back forth,both of them equally matched. They moved fast, trying to get the better of eachother.

"Angel," someone cried from the doorway. Angel ignored it, concentrating on the fight. He flicked his blade, locking it with Ricko's then wrenched, it flew out of his hand. Ricko smiled wickedly then he was down on the ground, sweeping Angel's legs from under him. Angel fell flat on his back, so did Ricko, his balance lost he tipped over, his arms no longer supporting him. Then suddenly the hilt of his sword was smashing into his face and everything went dark.

"Wesley," Angel said, quickly sitting up, "What the hell are you doing?"

Wesley frowned, "You were fighting him, weren't you." Gunn had run to Wesley's side too.

"He's only a kid man," Gunn said.

"We were just having a little bout, " Angel said

"Oh," said Wesley, "Oh... so he's a client," he knelt down quickly, assessing the damage he had done. "He's still alive," he said weakly, looking at Angel.


	7. Kareaoke Night

**KAREAOKE NIGHT**

Ricko lay on the couch, a pack of ice resting on his forehead. The man who had mistaken him as the enemy had been apologising to him for the last half hour, then he had gone to talk to Angel in his office. The other people, a green demon in a fluro suit and a shy girl were sitting on the other couch with Gunn, casting curious glances his way. No one said a word for a while, then Gunn, who was thinking the moment was getting way too awkward for him, broke it.

"So I think introductions should be made," he said giving a weak smile to them all, "Guys this is Ricko, Ricko the guy that hit you on the head is Wesley, he was a former Watcher, who Cordy and Angel met back in Sunnydale. Then, after he lost his job, he became an unsuccessful demon hunter until he found Angel and scored a job. Now he's our boss. The bright and colorful demon over here is Lorne. He's an empath demon,"

Ricko frowned at the unfamiliar term but didn't venture to ask for an explanation.

"He used to own a karaoke bar until we trashed it several times, now he lives here and helps some of our clients. The shy, but beautiful girl sitting at my far side, Fred, used to be stuck in a horrible demon dimension until Angel saved her and we brought her back on one of our many ventures. She's really smart, helps us with a lot of the sciency things." he finished his monologue, finally realising that it might have been a bit too much. Both the demon, Lorne, and the girl, Fred, were looking at him as if he'd grown two heads. They obviously though he had given too much away, especially to a complete stranger they didn't know. Gunn couldn't help it, he babbled when he was uncomfortable. Ricko was still trying to absorb all the information Gunn had given.

"Nice to meet you," he finally said quietly, sitting up.

"Nice to meet you too," Fred said, smiling at him shyly.

Lorne smiled at him, showing white teeth, "So prince charming junior, what brings you here."

Ricko shrugged, he'd already given so much away to Cordelia, Gunn and Angel, he had been too trusting and forgotten where it had led him last time. He didn't want to tell anyone else about things, be couldn't afford to forget to be cautious. There was more silence for a while, one party trying to think of something to say the other wishing they weren't there.

"I think I'm going to go see what's taking them so long," Lorne said, "I wanna know if Angel cakes has heard from Clarice."

"One of his clients," Gunn explained as Lorne got up and headed to the office. There was some more of the awkward silence, Ricko's head began to throb.

"Do we have any aspirin" Angel asked, holding his throbbing head.

"Angel there are more pressing matters to think about then aspirin." Wesley said, "Do you realise the seriousness of this case, you should have contacted me immedietly."

"Look Wes it's no big deal," Angel said, looking up, "We were handling it."

"Angel we don't even know if this child is genuine, he could just be playing us." Wesley reasoned.

"Are you telling me that I don't know someone with power when I see it," Angel argued, "Wes in case you've forgotten I have been around a bit longer then you, I know magic when I see it and when a kid holds a ball of fire in his hands, well you kinda realise that it's definitely magic your dealing with."

"It wasn't his powers I was referring to," Wesley said.

"So what is it Wes, what are you referring to." Angel asked, exasperated.

"Do you know anything certain about this kid, anything at all beside his name?" Wesley asked quietly.

"He's a bit closed up okay Wes, it's not his fault, I think he's had a pretty tough life." Angel began to argue again.

"Yes, but Angel all you can do is speculate, until we know more about this boy I think we should be cautious about him and what we tell him. We should be watching him, not becoming friends with him.' Wesley said firmly.

"Look Wesley," Angel said softly, " I know another thing about this kid for certain, he needs our help. If we don't give it to him now who knows what could happen to him. He's only a child, he needs to be shown the good guys, that's a good enough reason for me to take on his case and to protect him, even if it isn't for you."

"Can someone please explain to me something"said Lorne, walking through the door and breaking through there argument. "Why is a kid, who's radiating power that's equivelant to a nuclear bomb and making my head hurt, sitting _in_ our lobby _on _our couch."

"He's a Free Lancer," Wesley explained.

"Ahhh, one of those, you know Pylea had one of them once, decades ago. That still doesn't explain what he's doing here." Lorne said.

"He needs our help," Angel replied.

"What he needs is up for debate," Wesley said firmly, "What we should be doing is keeping watch of him and making sure we have control."

"He's not some object Wesley," Angel voice rose slightly with anger, "He's a kid."

"And a powerful one we know nothing about," Wesley's voice rose in response.

"I think I may be able to help," Lorne said, raising his hand, "I'm not getting a read of him but if we can get him to sing somehow ..." he left the sentence unfinished.

"How are we going to make that happen?" Angel asked, dumbly.

"We could use Connor," Wesley said, pacing, "Get him to sing a lullaby?"

"Yeah and why don't we have a karaoke night." Angel said sarcastically.

"What's wrong with my idea?" Wesley asked defensively.

"Well nothing besides the fact Ricko won't go anywhere near Connor," Angel replied.

"Well what's your idea then," Wesley asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I think he just put one forward," Lorne cut through again, "And we just may be able to pull it off." Wesley and Angel both looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Hey kid's," Lorne said, his voice bubbling with enthusiasm, coming out of the office with a disgruntled Angel and a slightly miffed Wesley in tow.

They all looked up brightly from there positions on the furniture. They hadn't exactly been having a bundle of laughs, the silence hadn't been broken at all.

"Well you all look like you've been having some fun," he said tightly. He headed towards Ricko, who quickly stood up, he didn't know what to make of these other associates and what they were like. He found politeness and staying out of people's way mostly worked with new acquaintances, especially staying out of their way. You never knew when you'd find them drunk and in a bad mood, stray shoes heading your way,

making a perfect arc through the air.

"Okay then," said Lorne, giving a laugh, "Is it my green skin, or is it that tabacco smell, I thought I got it all off but it kinda sticks on you."

"I just thought you'd like it to yourself," Ricko muttered, shrugging.

"Don't be like that Teeny Bop," he said, putting his arm around Ricko's shoulder, "In this big hunk of a hotel we share. Well... not with outsiders, it's not like you can just walk in from the street and take a room... although come to think of it it would be charitable if we shared, it's not like Angel wings is using the extra space. Maybe we could turn part of it into a karaoke bar, I can see it now," he let go of Ricko to gesture with his hands as if reading an imaginery sign.

Ricko slunk away gratefully, standing away from this boistorous character unlike anyone he'd ever met. Heck, as far as he could tell they were all unlike anyone he'd ever met, especially in the adult category.

"Lorne's Karaoke, No yawns, just a lot of hokey pokey," Lorne said dramatically.

"Lorne were not turning part of the hotel into a karaoke bar, especialy with our record," Angel said.

"Okay, okay dark one, it was just an idea," Lorne flopped down on the couch, then the wailing came.

"What the," he said quickly jumping up.

"Oh you must have been sitting on the baby monitor," Fred said, quickly retrieving it from it's position on the couch.

"Looks like Connors awake," Angel said quickly, "I'll go get him."

"No I will," said Wesley, "I haven't seen him in ages, I really miss the little fellow."

"I said I'll go," Angel said, giving him an evil glare, "I am his dad."

"Well I'm his uncle," Wesley said, giving an evil glare of his own.

"I'll go," Fred said, getting up, "Geesh I thing your both a little high strung. I mean I love him too, but isn't fighting over changing his nappy and probably spending an hour trying to get him to sleep a bit much."

Before either of them could object she gave them one final weird look and was disappearing up the stairs.

"Now that both the girls are gone how about we do something daring, out of the ordinary, fun?" Lorne said brightly. Both Wesley and Angel's face fell, here it was the moment they had been dreading, the horrible word about to pass from Lorne's lips.

"Who's up for a game of poker," Gunn said, getting up and stretching. "We can use jelly beans, since we got a minor here. Their always funner to play with anyway."

"What are you stupid, teaching a minor how to gamble. You'll traumitise the poor child, he'll start a life of crime... are you out to destroy his life Gunn? Are you?" the dramatic speech came from Lorne.

"Actually I like poker," Ricko piped up, interested, "I never played it with jelly beans though."

"Your only a kid, your confused about the world, you don't know what you like," Lorne said extravagantly, "I got a better idea, why don't we do karaoke, I got the old machine in my room." he was met with blank and unenthusiastic stares. "Whoever wants to do karaoke say I," he said. "I," he piped up loudly and after meaningful looks to Wesley and Angel two more I's followed. "So that's it then, who's gonna' carry the machine down here? Any volunteers?"

The Karaoke machine stood in the lobby, it's surface shining, connected to the T.V.

"Who wants to go first," Lorne said delightfully, smiling. He was looking into three unenthusiastic faces. "Right be party poopers then," he said his smile vanishing. "You know karaoke can be a very important thing." He gave a meaningful glare Wesley and Angel's way. Wesley dug Angel with his elbow, torn between listening to the horrible sound that was about to emmit from Angel's voice box and singing himself he decided the former was slightly better then the latter.

"Angel loves karaoke, we all know he does. Let him go first." Wesley said quickly, pushing Angel forward. Angel, unsure of what had happened, found himself with a microphone in his hand and a bunch of CD's stuck under his face.

"Your selections more limited then before," Lorne said, "Seeing as most of my good CD's burned in that fire. Oh yeah, and I was wondering when you guys were going to give me some compensation for that?"

"You volunteered to help us," Angel said automatically, "You weren't in employment with us."

Lorne sighed heavily. "Worth a try," he muttered.

Angel sorted through the songs, there wasn't much to chose from. "This is your selection," he said, raising his eyebrows, "AQUA, The Monkey's or The Backstreet Boys?"

"I don't have the others on karaoke," Lorne shrugged, "I told you most of the good ones burned. Now just choose something already and sing."

"Backstreet Back alright," Angels voice wavered, emitting from the microphone the last words to the song. Lorne clapped loudly, and Ricko did a little less enthusiastically.

"I think you deserve a clap for finally finishing man," Gunn said, laughing.

"That's not funny," Angel said, "I mean what kind of stupid band is this anyway, and the song. I'd like to see you do better with it."

"From that collection I don't think so," Gunn shook his head, "It's not my style."

"Hey, hey, hey," Lorne said, "Custom dictates it should be guests first why don't we give Ricko a go?"

"Yes," Wesley said, "Let's hear our guest sing."

Ricko looked slightly doubtfull.

"Come on man, Gunn said, "It's fun." There was more cajoling from all sides, everyone grinning enthusiastically.

"You can't get any worse then him," Gunn proclaimed, getting a protest from Angel and friendly threats, Ricko finally yielded, grinning and rising from his perch.

"I'm not singing one of those songs though," he said, retrieving the mike from Angel.

"That's okay, sing whatever you want," Lorne said.

"Someone could have said that a minute ago," Ricko heard Angel grumble.

Ricko looked nervously at his bright eyed audience. His throat felt extremely dry. "Um..."

"Sing whatever you want," Angel encouraged, "Choose anything."

Ricko opened up his mouth, and started to sing.


	8. Reactions

**REACTIONS**

"_The wolf howled to the moon._

_Silent the night, black as death,_

_Weave you a blanket, _

_Make it your best, _

_Never leave you,_

_Don't leave me,_

_Me beau, my baby._

_Follow the eagle,_

_over the mountain,_

_I'll come back one day to find,_

_Lies are truth,_

_Parting gift,_

_Gift to me, your all I've got,_

_Must give up, _

_Cannot find,_

_Never let go of my baby, your mine._

"_The eyes shall watch, _

_Content in you, _

_Never leave,_

_The wolf shall breathe,_

_I shall push the darkness away,_

_I will protect you_

_Just hold and believe,_

_Never forget, but maybe relieve._

_The wolf howled to the moon."_

It had no tune, like nothing any of them had heard, yet it was so beautiful. Angel felt a sensation, like it was familiar in some way, but he couldn't satisfy it, nor get rid of it. Ricko's voice was so sweet, so mournful, it reminded people of so many things, so many memories.

The song was almost over, Lorne remembered he was supposed to be reading this kid, he turned his full attention on him and he slammed against something.

Lorne slammed back into the wall, everyone quickly snapped back to reality. The gang ran towards Lorne, who had slipped to the floor and was groaning slightly.

"What happened?" Fred cried, running down stairs with a wailing Connor in her arms.

She saw the gang all crowded around Lorne's collapsed form and Ricko standing, shocked, with a microphone hanging limply in his grasp, at his side. Fred quickly ran to Ricko.

"What happened?" she repeated.

"I don't want him to be," Ricko denied, shaking his head emphatically, deathly pale. His eyes were glazed and unfocused.

"What?" Fred asked.

"Dead, like Grant," Ricko said hoarsely, his voice cracked, tears started to well up.

All the noise seemed to stop, Fred felt like the world had stopped. Connor had stopped wailing suddenly, he was looking up at Ricko, smiling, he reached out one of his hands, brushing Ricko's sleeve. Ricko seemed to snap back, he looked at Connor then at Fred and the rest surrounding Lorne, as if for the first time. Then he brushed past Fred and went to lean next to Lorne. Fred followed behind.

"He's fine," Ricko said, confident, certain, "Just let me have a look." He put a hand on Lorne's leg, a glowing red colour coursed through Lorne's body. Gunn and Wesley quickly stepped back, uncertain of this new trick. Ricko let go after a few minutes, Lorne opened his eyes fully, he looked perfectly alert, the scratch he had a minute ago had also disappeared.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked uncertainly.

"Sure," Lorne said, "Actually I'm feeling normal, which is weird since I have this strange recollection of being slammed backwards into the wall."

"Well that's cause you were," Gunn answered.

"Oh that explains it," Lorne said, slightly detached.

"Ricko fixed you, with his magic," Angel said, he turned to look up at Ricko, all the others were already staring at him.

"Yes it is to be assumed,"Wesley said quietly. "So did you?"

"Yeah," Ricko muttered, "I didn't have to do much, you weren't badly injured or anything."

"Well thanks," Lorne said, "I think."

"You shouldn't have done that," Ricko said, looking at him intensely. "If you wanted to read me you should have told me. You could have been worse hurt then just a little scratch on the wall. I can't control that sorta thing, well no one can read me anyway. My magic ain't just some parlour tricks it's real, so don't go playing around it."

There was a moment of strained silence.

"Don't need to warn me twice," Lorne finally broke through, giving a groan. The moment passed, but Wesley was still watching Ricko.

"Sleeping helps if your still feeling a little crook," Ricko said, quietly.

"I think I'll take your advice," Lorne said, rising slowly. "If anyone needs me don't come calling," he said, heading for the staircase.

Wesley walked slowly up the staircase. The others had decided to play a board game as there wasn't any cases to take on. Wesley excused himself, saying he was feeling exhausted, they had let him go without question.

He could hear there laughter even on the first floor, it drifted up the staircase. He supposed it was inevitable, for some reason, when one was playing Monopoly. He could hear Fred's sweet one, Gunn's and Angel's, yes and there was the boy's...

Instead of heading down the corridor and turning right, to his preffered sleeping room when he was staying in the hotel, he went four doors down and stopped in front of number 101. The brass numbers on the door shone, there was a pool of light emitting from it. Wesley raised his arm, posed it about to knock, and it suddenly opened. Lorne stood there in an extremely colourful bathrobe.

"I knew you'd ask," he said, "And the answer is no."

Wesley blinked slowly, "No what?" he asked.

"No, I'm not going to tell you about what I saw from Ricko," Lorne snapped.

"I thought he said his magic blocked that sort of thing?" Wesley sad slowly, trying to buy time.  
"It does," Lorne said, "Why do you think I was thrown back so violently. He wasn't joking about that, but..." he stopped.

"But," Wesley encouraged.

"I shouldn't even be telling you this," Lorne hissed, but he relented. "It was the song, something about it puts his defenses down."

"Do you know why?" Wesley asked.

"I told you I'm not telling you what I saw," Lorne said angrily, "It's Ricko's life, when he asks me to tell you I will."

"But Lorne you have to think about this," Wesley objected, "We know nothing about this boy, he's got a humungous amount of power. We could be in danger."

"We aren't," Lorne said wearily.

"Just tell me how you know that, and I won't breach the subject again,"Wesley cajoled.

"I told you no," Lorne said, more determined then Wesley had ever seen him. "That informations that kid's and his alone to give. I shouldn't even know it."

"Lorne there may be something that we have to know," Wesley argued further, "You may not think it's important, but it could be vital."

Lorne sighed heavily, holding his head, "Look Wes there's a lot of blanks and I'm pretty sure I don;t want to fill them. I stand by my decision, but I can give you some advice Tea Bags."

'Back to the nicknames,' Wesley thought ruefully.

"We may put on fronts on the outside, some guy may look like a loser, another may be an arrogant prick and a third may be a bumm. One may be successful, beautiful, one may have no talents, no power. They may act in character every day, they may act as if they don't even notice you or care, they may act tough. They may be demons, half breeds, vampires, magicians. But when we come down to it, in the end, were _all_ just people inside." Lorne closed the door and left Wesley, staring at a wooden door, to contemplate his words.

Lilah watched the boy through the ball, the mystic sat there, there hands glowing, their claws held the object. They each, three of them in total, wore a red cloak, covering there faces. Lilah wasn't entirely sure she wanted to see them anyway.

The boy was sitting at a table Angel and Gunn had dragged into the middle of the lobby. They were all crowded around it, a Monopoly board placed at it's center. Gunn was stealing Fred's money, while Angel, the baby on his lap, was losing all of his to the conquering boy. Everyone was laughing, joking, the boy was quieter then the rest, more subdued, but he smiled and shared in the others jokes.

"Come on Angel," the boy cajoled, "Give me your property, I'm giving you a handsome price considering. After all you need it, you've only got seventy-five dollars."

Angel, while bouncing Connor up and down gently on his knee, quickly riffled through his money. All he found was ten and twenty dollar bills.

"I could have sworn I had a hundred," he said frowning, then he saw the grin split across the boys face. "You," he said, a mock accusation.

The boy held up his hands, one of them with a one hundred dollar bill. His grin grew wider, he twiddled his fingers.

The game split up about then, Angel collecting Connor up in his arms, started to chase after the boy, who had quickly made a dash for it to the protection of the couch. Fred and Gunn, who realised they were missing some money too, followed suit. They chased him around the room, the baby gurgling, and finally cornered him on the couch, chucking pillows and laughing. Then the connection broke, the image disappeared and the glass ball was milky white again.

Lilah sighed, she poked one of the mystics slumped forms with her shoe, the thing didn't move. She sighed again, heavily this time. She grabbed the receiver on the table and pressed a button.

"Hello, Wolfram and Hart building services, how may I help you?" a womans voice came from the other end.

"Janitorial service is needed in the mystics basement. A clean up job, requiring some new employees too. See it's done," she snapped bruesqly into the phone. Before the girl could reply she slammed it down. She guessed that would be happening, the mystics magic drained, their life force used up. When you were working with such powerful and forceful magic it had to happen She just hated it though, the fee would be coming out of her pay. But at least she had seen a little bit into this, gathered a little depth. The boy was beginning to get attached, a big no, no. He should have learnt that by now but she guessed some people never did. They never realised that every action had a reaction. She supposed the good guys didn't care, there whole code of chivalry blahdy, blahdy, blah... But see that's what made them so weak, so vulnerable. Like with Angel helping this boy, they never thought of the reaction.


	9. Everyone's Fight

**EVERYONES FIGHT**

"_Cordy came back in the middle of their fight, a few hours of rest and a back massage from Phantom Dennis had left her refreshed and bright. The pillow fight immedietly dispersed and everyone ran to her, treating her like a beautiful queen, bowing to her and taking care of all her needs." _At least that's what she wished.

The reality was completely different. The Powers that Be had decided to send her a special message when she was just about to doze off. She was cranky and the message left her with a feeling of sadness, and horror.

Whoever the kid was they were supposed to be helping, definetly was not going to meet a happy fate if they didn't reach him on time. The fact that no one noticed her when she walked through the door, was not helping.

The boy was yelling as Angel grabbed him from behind and lifted him off the ground, Connor, in Fred's arms. Gunn was making faces to Connor and Fred was cheering Angel on. Angel was explaining to the boy how he was going to put on the history channel and chain him to the chair in front of the T.V. The boy was pleaing for his life.

"Right, everybody stop what there doing," she screamed. She hated to break such a happy moment but the vision had left her with a sense of urgency, oh and she had a splitting headache due to lack of sleep.

Angel quickly let the boy on the floor, they were all looking at her with stunned faces.

"That's better," she said, "I got a vision and it needs to be dealt with now."

"What's it about," Angel asked, immedietly all business.

"A kid," Cordelia said, "He's about sixteen, seventeen. I got this street, Harley street. The kids cornered by three of vamps, it doesn't look pretty if we don't save him."

"Lets go," Angel said, quickly heading for the weopens cabinet, "You guys can stay here." Cordelia opened her mouth to argue but Angel quickly silenced her. "It will be easier that way, what we need is a stealth job, not an army force. Besides Connor needs his nappy changed, do you really want to do that alone. Last time it took the three of you just to take it off."

"You have a point there," Cordelia said slightly sidetracked. "No," she said sharply, shaking her head. Angel was clever but no one could fool Cordelia Chase. "You are not going to fool me with that mister. You need someone there with you, you can't do things alone. Do we remember were that road led. Anyway Wes is the boss."

"Wes is sleeping," Angel said, as stubborn as she was. "This is only one job, I can do it alone. Connor needs double the firepower with me out of the building. He needs you. If any of you get hurt..."

Cordelia was silent for a while, "None of us will get hurt, as you said, it's only a little job. Beside big fella' someone needs to take care of you too." She was touched by his concern but he needed protection too.

"I'll go," Ricko said quietly. All of them looked at him, slightly shocked. Ricko shrugged, "I can fight and it's not like I'm needed here."

Angel and Cordelia both shook there heads but Ricko persisted. "Look the guys probably one of my friends, this isn't only your fight you know. Besides, like you said Cordelia, Angel needs looking after, he does stupid things sometimes. A week of watching him showed me that much."

"I don't do stupid things," Angel said defensively.

"He's right," Gunn said, Angel gave him a glare. "I mean about it being his fight too."

Cordelia didn't really like the idea, but she also couldn't shake her fear of urgency. She supposed Ricko solved a bit of her problem anyway.

"You two better go, before this kid's turned to the evil side," she sighed.

Angel sighed heavily, moving towards the weopens cabinet, Ricko following behind. "

"You may be coming", he growled, "But your not going to be fighting, understand. Stay on the sidelines and make sure the vampires don't see you there."

Ricko shrugged, "Okay," he said, unexpectedly co-operative. Angel gave him a look and then opened the weopens cabinet, handing him a cross and stake and grabbing a sword for himself, along with a few stakes.

They headed towards the door, "Have a nice... " Fred started brightly, then her face fell, "Killing spree."

"Don't worry," Ricko turned to Cordy, giving a grin, "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Well I'll try at least, it's kinda hard."

"Quiet you," Angel grumbled.

Angel sighed heavily again, they had been sitting in the cold for a while, no sign of vampires or kids. They were both crouched on a roof, looking over the quiet dead end street. It had taken a while for them to find the street, Angel seeming to have left his navigational skills behind.

When they had finally found the place they, more like Angel, had decided to use the roof to be on alert. It was also a good place for Ricko to be when the fighting began. People never seemed to think to look up. It wasn't that Angel didn't think Ricko could handle himself in a fight, it was just that Angel wanted to blow off a little steam.

Ricko was unusually quiet and still, his breathing controlled. He hadn't made a sound, his eyelids shut. Angel nudged him with his hand, Ricko slowly opened one eye then yawned, moving his weight.

"Were you doing magic," Angel asked, slightly curious. Ricko gave him a sleepy smile.

"Just had a little ride in a tomcat," he said, "Checking out the streets, checking on some friends."

Angel stared at him, "You just had a ride in a tomcat?"

"Yeah, you know," Ricko said earnestly, "My mind... magic... spirit... whatever it occupied some of the space of the tomcat, shared it's mind. I got his consent before I did it of course. It's fun, just like being a cat, but instead your sharing the experience with one."

Angel was silent, turning his eyes back to the empty street he contemplated the idea.

"So why do cats like fish so much?" he asked finally.

"They don't," Ricko said, "I mean they do, but not particularly. They like any sort of meat but they especially adore live prey. It's a thrill to stalk it, have that strength feel so knowing, so..."

"Powerful," Angel said quietly, "Yeah, I know."

There was a strained silence for a while. Ricko traced patterns with his fingers onto the stone. It was like his finger had ink on it, the patterns printed onto the brick. They caught Angel's eye, he inspected them closely.

"Latin," he said, frowning, Ricko looked up, then turned back to his writing. "How do you know Latin?" Angel asked.

Ricko shrugged, "I don't know, just do," he said, unconcerned, "Guess it's one of those 'gifts' a Free Lancer gets."

Angel read what Ricko had written quietly to himself in English, frowning slightly. "Forever is a long time, never is longer."

Ricko shrugged, wiping his hand over the writing, which disappeared. Angel inspected him closely, he shrugged giving him a false bright smile.

"Just a saying I heard," he said, Angel kept on looking at him, trying to figure him out. "Will you stop staring at me," Ricko said, grinning. "Didn't your ma' teach you that it's not polite."

There was a sudden shout below them, Angel quickly whipped his head back that way. He swore quietly and quickly grabbed his sword from the ledge, launching himself over it he fell to the pavement below and to the kid currently cornered by three vamps.

He bent his knees to prevent them from breaking, and grunted. He stumbled a bit, regaining his footing. The vampires didn't seem to hear him, far more concerned about their new meal then the noise behind them. Angel moved silently closer, before the vamp closest to him could even sense him he had lopped off it's head. One of the vamps was holding the struggling kid while the other leaned in to have a nibble. They both turned towards him, the one holding the kid, a teenage girl, didn't let go though.

They were both wearing pretty outrageous costumes in Angel's opinion, the girl, a pretty brunette had a torn leather skirt and leather pants. A black halter top hardly covered her top. The guy, a tall slim kid, had on leather pants, a black top and a leather jacket. The human kid had similar garb to the vampire. They all wore black colars with metal studs, they were all teenagers.

"I didn't realise leather was in," Angel said, smiling and walking towards them cautiously, "I would have worn these really cool pants I have. Oh well, better luck next time I suppose."

"Get out of here old man," the boy vamp said, putting on his vamp face, "This is our food, you can't save it. Better ignore that stupid soul of yours and keep walking."

Angel frowned, he guess Ricko had probably told some of his friends when they were human about him. It was a slight inconvenience, the element of surprise was the easiest approach in cases like this. Vampires never suspected another of their kind might want to save a human instead of eating them.

"Hey I'm not that old," he said, amiably, "I'm just in my prime really, or a little under it, considering how long vampires can live."

The boy growled at him, taking what Angel guessed was supposed to be a menacing step towards him. "I said get out of here," the kid said.

Angel sighed heavily, "We can do this the easy way, were you let me stake you and free the human, or you can do this the hard way, were you don't accept that I could beat you in a fight and I dust you anyway and free the human." He smiled, putting his hands in his coat pockets, "Anyway kid, who do you think will win between me, and a newby who's only been alive for a few days."

The boy teen suddenly grinned and threw back his head, howling long and loud.

"Right," Angel said, raising his eyebrows, "Not what I was expecting but I suppose you work with what you got." He lunged towards the boy vamp but the boy quickly dodged and moved nimbly away, running. It left Angel a free path to the girl who still held the kid. Her eyes widened and she hissed, pushing the kid towards Angel she ran. Just in time to catch the kid before he fell on top of him, Angel wasn't fast enough to catch her. He swore under his breathe but turned his attention to the kid.

"Thank you mister," the kid gasped, his eyes wide. "I was scared I was going to be killed."

"It's okay," Angel said, frowning slightly.

"I better get home mister," the kid said quickly, pulling against Angels grip, "My mum's going to kill me."

"I don't think so," Angel said, "Not until you answer a few..." Angel trailed off when he heard a growl, he looked up to be met with a pair of glowing amber eyes, illuminated in the dark. Another pair was next to that one and another. Angel looked the other way, he was surrounded by around twenty vampires. They walked closer, all similarly dressed to the kid in front of him. The kid gasped, his mouth open.

"I think you better just stay near me," Angel said, his throat dry. He wasn't sure if he was going to be getting out of this one intact, or even getting out of it alive... well not dust particles anyway.

The vampires were working as a united group. Moving as one towards them. Angel doubted the whimpering kid beside him knew how to fight. Especially by the way he was trying to pull Angel's duster over himself to hide. Angel was constantly turning around, pulling the kid with him.

Angel doubted he was going to be able to protect all sides, not with the vampires working in strange, silent unity like this. A sudden growl tore through Angel's concentration, a humungous black wolf with flaming red eyes suddenly leaped over the vampire circle, using a girl as a vault. It landed in front of Angel and quickly whipped itself around, growling ferociously at the vampires. A semicircle of red glowing light encircled Angel, the kid and the wolf. Vampires threw themselves against it but it worked as a barrier, keeping them out.

The wolf turned to Angel and rose up on it's two feet. It rested it's paws on his shoulders, it seemed to almost be smiling, it's tongue out and showing all it's teeth. Angel tentavly put out his hand and stroked the wolf, it's tail began to wag furiously. He looked closely into the wolf's eyes, the wolf stared straight back.

"Ricko," Angel said, laughing.

Then Ricko shifted. It was like he moved backwards, or sideways but he didn't. The wolf sort of shacked, like a dog just out of a bath, and then there was Ricko standing right in front of Angel with a grin on his face.

The kid Angel was still holding on to didn't even move, unconcerned as if he saw boys turning into wolves often.

Angel's grin disappeared and he frowned. "I told you to stay up there," he said, pointing to the roof to emphasise his point.

Ricko looked at him, then up at the roof, then he looked down at the ground, flinching slightly.

"Ricko what were you thinking," he said in more softer tones.

"Can't do much up there," Ricko shrugged, "Better use down here."

"You could have just made a distraction for us instead of the forcefield," Angel argued.

"Oh it's not the forcefield," Ricko said looking up.

"What then?" Angel asked.

"This," Ricko said, waving his hand as if he was a butler presenting someone. He moved aside so Angel could see.

There was a mini sun, just elevated a few feet away from Angel. Angel cried out and quickly covered his face.

"Don't worry," said Ricko quickly, "It's outta' the forcefield, it can't harm you."

Angel straightened up slowly, then he moved closer to it. He could almost feel a little of it's heat, but maybe it was his imagination. The vampires had broken there circle, some were on fire, others had already turned to dust. The lucky ones got away but there weren't very many of them. They were all just so startled, surprised by something so unbelievable, as was Angel.

Angel pressed his hand against the forcefield, he was so close yet far away. He was kept so busy that he could sometimes dampen the pangs of envy towards his co-workers who could all do things he could hardly remember. Eat, sleep without dreaming about some horrific thing _they_ did, feel the sun...

Angel was startled when the sun suddenly popped out of existence, so did the forcefield, making him fall forwards. He just managed to regain his balance.

"Sorry," Ricko said, looking slightly sheepish, "But I think you better get back to the hotel."

"You should have just stayed up there and left the forcefield. We could have waited them out." Angel said, not letting it go.

Ricko shrugged, not meeting his eye. Angel sighed heavily.

"Your right," he said, "_We _better get back to the hotel."

"Your still gonna' help me," Ricko said, looking up, "Even after I didn't do what you said."

"Angel shrugged, "You helped me," he said, "Besides," he lowered his voice, acting secretive, "Cordy never listens to me anyway." Then he frowned, thinking about it, "Actually no one seems to."

"So we better be getting back," Ricko said, steering the conversation away from that befuddling point.

"Yeah," Angel said, "Your coming with us too..." he turned to the place he had left the funny dressed kid, he was gone.

Ricko shrugged, "They don't call him Slippery for nothin."

"You know him," Angel said, "Does that mean you know how to find him. He seems to be apart of that weird gang."

"Slippery," Ricko said, shaking his head, "He ain't apart of that gang. Nah, he's just fighting it from the inside. A lot of the Vipers are doin' that, those vamps have taken a lot of there mates. _I _taught 'em that trick actually."

"Oh," said Angel.

"Everyone want's to fight them that hurts there friends." Ricko said quietly, "Especially kids like me, ones with friend anyway, there friends are all they got. That's why I came down here to do that spell, some of those vamps killed the last thing some kids hang onto."

"What about you?" Angel asked quietly, "What about your friends?"

"If you don't make friends you don't have any friends to lose, a guy told me that once." Ricko said, his voice hard.

"So why do you fight?" Angel asked.

Ricko shrugged, " Whether you have something to fight for or not." he said, his voice level and quiet, " It's everyone's fight," .

There was silence for a while, "So," said Angel suddenly, "Have you always been able to turn into a wolf?"

Ricko grinned, "You should see that form with wings."

Angel's mouth turned into a little oh, he had tons of questions to ask, but which one first.

"Are we going back to the hotel?" Ricko asked.

"Oh yeah," Angel said, turning toward's what he thought was the way they had come, they began to walk. " Can you actually fly?"


	10. Memories

**MEMORIES**

Angel entered the hotel, he loved this shut cases, no little details or snags, just killing the bad guys and leaving it at that. He headed towards the weapons cabinet, he grabbed the handle and pulled, it didn't budge, he looked and saw the safety lock firmly secure. _'Cordy,'_ he thought, knowing her she'd probably locked it to spite him, she knew how hard it was for him to open. He tried again but it didn't seem to want to unlatch no matter how hard he wriggled it. He thought it would be better not to force it open, after all they did cost a packet and he wasn't made of money.

"Having a problem?" Ricko asked.

"It's nothing," Angel said, he gritted his teeth, pulling on the safety lock, "This safety lock doesn't seem to want to open for me, that's all… Oww," he pulled his finger back and cradled it, the safety lock opening a crack, and then snapping back onto it.

"Here I'll help," Ricko said, he devoured the rest of the ice cream Angel had brought him on the way home, '_That isn't much considering it was a double cone and I bought it half a block away,'_ Angel thought. Ricko had eaten it like he hadn't had anything in days, by the looks of him Angel wondered if he literally hadn't.

Once the last of the double choc ice cream was devoured Ricko worked on the lock. He grinned, "It's as simple as this," he said to Angel and pushed the lock up, it didn't budge.

Angel laughed out loud. Ricko frowned and pulled it, it still didn't move, Ricko finally growled, and moved his hand away from the child lock, he cast a wary look at Angel, checking that he wasn't looking, and then flicked his hand, the motion would have been lost on someone unobservant, but Angel was far from that, the lock sprung open with a faint whistling noise, Ricko grinned.

"There you go," he said, he swung the cabinet open. Angel put his sword in the right place and then Ricko emptied his pockets, placing the stakes Angel had given him previously into the bottom of the cupboard. Angel realized that they weren't needed by a free lancer and felt slightly foolish at his lack of thought.

"Can I try this?" Ricko asked, pointing at Angel's favorite axe, the one he kept for momentous occasions such as apocalypses.

"Sure," he said, trusting Ricko knew his way around armory.

Ricko took it out of its holder reverently and gave it an experimental swing. He swung it a few more times, making controlled arcs through the air, causing the blade to sing. He stopped and gave a low whistle.

"Nice," he said, rubbing his thumb lightly across the blade, the blade seemed to glow and make the colours of the rainbow where his thumb contacted it, the metal singing again. "Good make, strong steel from," he frowned slightly then nodded, "The Arctor universe I'd say, forged for ten years in the molten rock which flows freely there on the surface. Where'd you get this from?" he turned his gaze to Angel.

Angel shrugged, "Oh you know…" he caved at Ricko's plain look, "Oh, okay so I took it off a dead demon about one hundred and eighty years ago, when I was evil might I add, I stashed it somewhere and when I came across it again a few years later I carried it a while until I stashed it again in L.A. I decided to look it up when I came back, and it was exactly where I'd left it."

"Oh, okay," Ricko said, frowning and quickly dropping his gaze. He looked nervous and intimidated.

"Hey," Angel said, moving towards him and giving a foolish grin, "Too much information, sorry, I'm not usually this talkative."

Ricko flinched as if Angel was coming at him with a raised hand and a sharp word; Angel saw his fist clench and his and his bottom lip immediately come under his teeth, preparing for the worst. He forced his gaze towards Angel, glaring at him with defiance.

"Hey," Angel said, concerned by this sudden reaction, he had seen it in street urchins when he was younger more times then he cared for, and yet a few centuries later it still haunted kids, the mistrust and expectation of the worst from everyone. "I'm not going to hurt you."

After a minute, Ricko lowered his gaze again, and his body slowly began to relax. A few more minutes and his breathing slowed, and a thought had begun to emerge in Angel.

"So your parents, where are they?" he asked slowly but steadily, he had to know, almost hoping that the kids problems could be fixed so easily.

"There gone," Ricko said, turning away now coldly, "And it doesn't matter where, either, before you ask."

"I once met this girl," Angel began again, after a few minutes of awkward silence, "She developed psychic powers after something horrible happened to her when she was a kid, she learned to control it though, she could float stuff and do all sorts of things but she moved on with her life in the end, she was just a little more special…"

Ricko turned around, his face was red with shame and embarrassment, he obviously didn't want to say what he was about to. "My Dad used to hit me," he growled not looking at Angel, the vampire felt a moment of triumph, a thought that he could save this kid just like the one he had saved a little while ago, that he wouldn't always have to run, he was grasping at straws.

"He hit me to stop me using magic, when he didn't want me to anyway, he didn't make it appear. Believe me I looked up all that stuff when it fully came to me, none of it was what I have. It's not something that just happened overnight, and it's not something that will go away or that other people will ignore, because it's not normal… I wish it was…" he added with a bitter note.

Angel felt a sinking sensation, but he had also learned some things he stored away for later, like the fact Ricko had said, "When he didn't want me to anyway,' obviously his father had known how to use his magic and what it was.

"So you must be pretty tired," he said after a while, "I know I am."

Ricko shrugged noncommittally, "Not really," he said, putting back Angel's axe. "I think I'll stay up and watch some T.V."

"We don't have T.V," Angel pointed out.

"Oh," Ricko said, looking slightly sheepish.

"Come on," Angel said, "We've got some really comfy beds; you'll be asleep before you know it." There was no way Angel could leave the kid to stay awake alone, but he was dead tired, no pun intended.

The kid hesitated, then finally shrugged, covering up a yawn that began to escape him, "

"Fine then," he said, "I suppose I'll be fine, if there's room for me."

"Were in a hotel," Angel pointed out, "There's more room then we need here. You can take the room down my corridor that Cordy used to use when she stays here, before Connor. She found another one that she reckons has a better view, I hope you don't mind about the view, after all it's only temporary."

"Yeah, I can handle a bad view for a few nights," Ricko shrugged again.

"Oh no," Angel said, "I meant until you choose your own, you know in the morning, or whenever you want to, as I said we have a lot to spare."

Ricko looked slightly shocked at this, but kept his mouth shut.

"Okay," Angel said, slightly awkward, "I suppose we better go do that, make your bed that is, for you to sleep on…" He walked towards the staircase and Ricko followed slowly, trudging, he wasn't looking forward to sleeping, he never had good dreams.

"Here it is," Angel finally said, opening the door and stepping in to allow Ricko to see.

"Nice," Ricko said, whistling low. The room was really nice, furnished, the bad wallpaper was made up for by the comfy furniture, a suite it had a bathroom, a small kitchen and a large luxurious bed.

"Cordy has taste," Angel nodded, enjoying Ricko's amazement at the room. He looked like he hadn't seen a comfortable bed in a long time.

"We should change the sheets though," Angel said, "I think they're a bit dusty." He went to the cupboard and got out a new set, with a quilt and a pillow, he loved this place it came complete with everything.

Ricko helped strip the bed and put the new sheet on, the quilt and pillow. He grabbed the dusty stuff and shoved them back into the cupboard, after folding them of course. _'He's pretty neat,_' Angel thought. "_In a Mr.Clean sense_.' He wonder what he'd do if he saw Cordy's present room, Angel had to clean out this one after she was done with it, it was too messy to bare.

Angel looked at Ricko up and down, he had just stifled a yawn and now that Angel inspected him closely he realized that he had dark circles under his eyes, apparently sleeping was another thing this kid wasn't big on. Angel saw that his old clothes were ripped and more then a little stained after their ice cream filled walk back to the hotel, he frowned, Ricko couldn't go to sleep in that. He tried to think about what kid's wore for bed, and then he had a brilliant, but slightly embarrassing stroke of genius.

"I got some pajamas if you want some," he finally revealed, very grudgingly, "They have cherubs on them, a birthday gift from Cordy, but their still good. I haven't even taken them out of their packet."

"Sure," Ricko said, shrugging and giving a faint smile at the thought of Angel wearing cherub pajamas, it would be the most ridiculous thing he'd ever have the misfortune of seeing.

"Okay I'll just go get them," Angel said, "Explore if you want." Ricko shrugged again and Angel closed the door on him looking slightly lost.

Ricko looked around the suite, he headed for the kitchen and checked the fridge for some food, all it had was some outdated ice-cream, Ricko didn't mind though, he was still starving, he grabbed the ice-cream out and pinched a spoon from the drawer. He hadn't eaten in days, he wasn't about to put out dated food down, even though it looked a bit sloppy. He dug his spoon into it and headed for the armchair in the room, that's when he spotted it.

It lay on the centre table, Ricko froze and looked at it, it stirred something deep within him, a memory that was lost and buried in ice. It was a sketch, drawn by a good hand, Ricko knew, he loved to sketch and draw.

It showed a lady, a woman, a portrait of her face, every delicate feature, Ricko could tell, was etched with emotion, drawn with something Ricko couldn't comprehend, it was a feeling he had never felt. But what Ricko really noticed was the women's face; it looked so familiar, different in subtle ways, but familiar all the same. From something so long ago, a time that hardly anyone remembered, that it was slow to flicker into Ricko's mind and disappeared as soon as it had come. She was warmth and a pretty smell, a kind word, big and loud, he remembered that much, at least he thought he did, he heard a baby crying, his crying he thought, but it was faint, the smell of a lady so faint… and then it was gone.

Ricko growled with frustration, closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly, tried to draw up the memory with his magic, but he couldn't. The memory should have been long gone, and he spent so much time trying to bury his other memories that this one was quite lost among them. A persons first breathe in the world was hardly remembered by them anyway.

Ricko finally opened his eyes to be met with the sketch again. He put down the ice cream on the table and replaced it with the paper. He ran his finger over the sketch, following each line, he frowned again trying to remember where he'd seem something so familiar before, but it had disappeared and he stopped trying, and just gazed at the picture. With his concentration on the face he didn't notice the word scrawled in almost indiscernible hand on the bottom. He probably wouldn't have been able to read it anyway, but if he had inspected it closely he would have found the name, Darla.

His tummy finally started rumbling and he remembered his ice cream, he reverently folded the sketch and put it into a pocket, without even noticing what he was doing. The ice cream was slightly melted but Ricko didn't mind, he sat on the chair and began devouring it, lost in his concentration with eating it before anyone else could get to it, but at the back of his mind that sketch kept tickling his thoughts.

Angel entered his room to be met with Cordelia, grumpy, tired, but determined to speak to him, she had a sleeping Connor in her arms.

"How was it," she whispered, "Did you kill them."

Angel nodded, heading for his cupboard.

"So is the kid still alive?" she asked, impatiently.

Angel nodded again, only listening to her with one ear, rifling through his stuff to try and find the cherubs.

"Thanks Mr. Information man," she said sarcastically, "You're just so helpful."

Angel nodded again, not even listening to her anymore. "They have to be here somewhere," he muttered, chucking his clothes around in a desperate attempt to find them.

"Hey,' said Cordelia as pair of underwear narrowly missed her ear, "Watch it."

"Gotchya," Angel exclaimed, grabbing a still packaged pair of pajamas at the very bottom of his closet.

"Hey," Cordelia said again, spotting them. "You haven't even opened them yet, I gave those to you last year mister!"

Angel's smile disappeared as he saw her annoyed look. "I was going to…" he started, but trailed off. He couldn't say that, not even for Cordy, it was just too undignified.

"That's the last time I get you a present," she growled.

"The kid needs some," Angel said, quickly heading for the door before she could glower at him some more.

"You brought another one home?" Cordy whispered, raising her eyebrows.

"No," Angel said, "It's the first kid." He then made his escape through the door, quickly closing it on Cordy's unappreciated face, she didn't like it when people gave away her presents, unless it was to her and it was something good that she'd bought for that purpose, like the perfume she'd bought him a few years back.

Angel quickly opened the door across the hall, getting as far away as he possibly could from angry Cordy. She just followed right behind him, after putting down a sleeping Connor in his cot.

"Look Cordelia," Angel whispered, turning around to face her, "I was going to use them sometime."

"Like when," she hissed.

"I'm using them now, aren't I?" he pointed out. He turned around and saw Ricko, asleep on the armchair in the middle of the room.

"Wow," Cordelia said, "He knocks out fast, wish Connor was as good."

Angel moved closer, spotting an empty ice cream tub on the table, "It helps when they have full stomachs," he said, holding up the tub. He scrunched up his nose; it smelt off, "I hope he'll be alright, that stuff smells a bit late to be lying around."

"Hey," Cordelia growled, grabbing the tub. "That's my low fat ice cream, I've been looking everywhere for that. And he ate it…" she wailed. Angel put up his hand to remind her to be quiet.

"Cordelia he's starving," he whispered, "Cut the kid some slack; anyway I doubt you could have stomached that, not unless you've been starving yourself for a couple of weeks, even then…"

"Hey mister," she scolded in hushed tones, which considering this was Cordelia, weren't really hushed at all. "When someone eats all your low fat ice cream, which cost you a pretty penny may I add, then you can preach about the starving thing."

"Sorry," a sleepy voice came from the arm chair, they both turned around startled. Ricko looked up at them with bleary eyes, "I didn't think anyone would want…" he yawned, showing rows of quite sharp teeth, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"It's okay," Cordelia said grudgingly, "It was probably off anyway."

Angel wanted to poke her in the ribs but he doubted it would make much difference, and he was too far away anyway. When Cordelia was tired and grumpy it equaled some of her old traits, not that she had changed that much anyway, but she had improved considerably.

"I brought you the pajamas," Angel interrupted quickly. He threw them to Ricko, who caught them lazily with one hand.

He inspected them, "Nice," he said, giving a cheeky grin. It soon disappeared in a large yawn.

"Well I suppose we'll leave you to it, if you need anything were just a call away, across the hall actually." Angel said, unsure what to say. With babies and little kids you cuddled and kissed them goodnight, with adults you gave them word, and what did you do with someone in between… Angel had no clue.

"_He's_ just a call away," Cordelia said, giving Angel I don't want to be disturbed tonight, look.

"I'll be fine," Ricko said, standing up, also unsure what to do.

"I know," Angel said evenly, "Just know were there."

Ricko blinked slowly, and then nodded, something like appreciation flashing in his eyes.

"Well… have a good night," Angel said.

"Goodnight," Cordelia said, after a long awkward pause they moved towards the door. Ricko looked like he didn't know how to respond to someone saying good night and meaning it. They opened the door and were about to walk out when they heard him.

"You guys…. Thanks… have a great night too; don't have any dreams I wouldn't…." he flushed red; it was a habit he had with his friends, friends he hadn't had in a long time.

Angel stopped at the door, waiting for the rest of it, but it didn't come, he didn't mind though, these things came slowly. He walked out and shut the door, but before it could click.

"Wait please," Ricko called out, "Can you…" he started off their look, "Can you keep the hall light on and my door open, if you can you know…" he was bright red, and he backed away from them, as if expecting laughter, or a reprimand, or both even.

"Sure," Cordelia jumped in before Angel could say anything, giving him a defiant look as if daring him to say anything.

"Thanks," the small whispered was just enough for Angel's alerted hearing to catch.

"No problem," he called over his shoulder.

"That kids gonna' cost us a fortune in electricity bills," Cordelia muttered under her breathe to him in the hall.

"You're the one that said sure, not me," Angel pointed out her small waver of kindness.

"Yeah well…" she said moving towards her door. "I was afraid of the dark when I was a kid too." She shut the door behind her and left Angel astounded.

"Who would have thought," he muttered, and entered his room, closing the door behind him.

Ricko sat down on the armchair again, he had changed into the pajamas, they were soft and comfortable, and so he ignored the cherubs. He sighed, what was he supposed to do now? A yawn escaped him, answering his question, but he didn't want to go asleep, he was afraid about what he'd find.

Instead he took out the sketch again. The lady was so familiar looking a lot like someone he knew, he just couldn't place her, no matter what he did. He started pacing up and down the room, the hall light illuminated it, allowing him to see in the dark, not that he needed the light to see, it was more the comfort it brought and the open door also provided a quick escape route. He stopped at the window and tore his gaze from the sketch, pulling back the curtains to look out. He sighed; it really was an incredibly ugly view, mainly of a big old building on the other side of the road, and an empty street with a flickering streetlight. Ricko did love a good view; he sighed again and shrugged, turning away from it. No matter what Angel said, Ricko knew this arrangement was only temporary, all the good things always were, and at least he could try and get something better next time.

He went and sat on the bed, bouncing up and down on it. He lay down, looking up at the horrible paint job on the ceiling, _'I'll just shut my eyes for a moment,_' he thought, _'Only a moment.'_

"_He walked in through the front door, putting his bag filled with clothes, down; he could tell something wasn't right immediately. Sarah had dropped him off at the front, they had rung her up and asked her if she would keep him for the day. Sarah was exactly like them, if not a bit annoyed at having whatever she was working on interrupted. He had been allowed to watch some T.V at her place though, that had been the only fun part. _

_He knew something was wrong immediately when his father and mother weren't standing at the door, his father with a grim expression and his mother, almost going to hug him, but then stopping at his father's look. He had never been out without one of them with him; it was usually his mother who took him out anyway._

"_Hello," he called out, "Mother…. Father." The words seemed lost in the house. He headed for the kitchen first, going as silently as he could, like they'd taught him, he hardly had to try anyway. _

_No one was in there, the activity his father had been making him do, to exercise his power, was on the counter, a puzzle that he had to put together at the same time with his power. He'd hardly been able to move one piece, his father had become angry at that and locked him in his room, he had been on edge the past few weeks, not that it took a lot for him to make his father angry._

_He looked away from the puzzle and headed for the kitchen cabinet, opening it. Instead of cans of food there were weapons of all types, swords, machetes, daggers. It was always closed, always unless they said he had to practice. He now knew something wasn't right and the thought started to sprout roots. He tried to brush it aside and grabbed a sword, his father would beat him if he found out, and he knew but something inside him, the voice of truth told him his father wasn't going to be beating him ever again. He brushed this annoying thought aside too and slinked out of the kitchen, heading for the lounge room. _

_It was more disorganized in there, the cabinet with the T.V in it had its doors wide open, one was hanging off its hinge, and the T.V was gone. The tables were smashed and broken, the walls spattered with a red substance, blood. Some other things were missing; fluff from the two armchairs was spread all over the room. He took this all in coolly, the thought spouted more roots but he just ignored it, no longer being able to push it away. _

_There were only two rooms left, his bedroom… and theirs. He headed for his first; he didn't want to know, not just yet. The door was wide open; there were scratches on the wood and walls around it, indents as if someone had tried to punch through. He walked inside, it was untouched, for some reason none of them could seem to enter it. He looked around the plain faced room, a bed, a cupboard, that was it. He pulled up the floorboard, his hiding place to keep things he was forbidden to have, there was the book he wrote things in, the picture of his favorite movie, the only movie he'd ever seen, the Lion King, and the book he had found on a park bench once, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Of course his only soft toy was in there too, his mother had given it to him for his fourth birthday, it was his only birthday gift. He took Barney out, brushed the dust off him and held him; he then got up and went to see what he knew was waiting for him in the only room left. _

_The door was broken and battered, they had tried to lock themselves in, he guessed. With Barney in one hand and the sword in the other he gave the door a nudge with his foot. It swung open, there was blood everywhere and they lay there, eyes open, hearts stopped. He stood their, looking down at them._

_He didn't even go inside; he didn't check their vital signs like they'd taught him, to see if a person was truly dead or just faking it. They were dead, and he knew it, and he felt nothing. He stood there for a while and then stepped inside, stepped around them and headed for the only phone in the house; he had never used it before. _

_He knew the number, dialed the three digits, he asked for the ambulance._

"_My parents are dead," he said simply. He told them his address._

"_We'll send someone right away," the person said, "Just stay on the line honey, how old are you, what's your name, what happened." _

"_Can you just hold on," he said quietly, "Just for a second," he didn't wait for an answer but let the phone go. _

_He headed for the kitchen, not looking down at them at all. He shoved the sword back in the cabinet, he locked it tight. He knew it wouldn't be normal, not right if they found him with a sword in his hand. He turned and was faced with the puzzle, sitting on the table, he gazed at it and it suddenly rose up and landed again, a full picture. It was of a lion, mother had probably bought it. He sat down for a second, gazing at it, a lioness stood next to him, and a cub. _

_Today was a day of firsts for him, the first time he'd gone out without one of them, the first time he'd watched T.V for twenty minutes, the first time he'd taken a weapon and held it because he'd decided he needed it, the first time he'd gone inside their room, the first time he'd used the phone, the first time he'd used his magic… his magic that's what it was, and it had actually worked, the first time he felt it like a fountain bubbling inside, almost overflowing, like it used to be when he was little, the first birthday he'd have with an empty house, but not the first day he was alone, because he had always been alone._

_He remembered the phone; he got up and went back to their room. Something was glowing red inside a cabinet; it seemed to be calling to him. He didn't hesitate, he went towards it, opened it with his magic. There was a small globe, red mist swirled inside it; it was so tiny, like a jewelry ornament, it even hung off a golden chain. He reached out, touched it, fire seemed to race through his veins, he saw a lady, heard singing a song he'd never forget, and then it stopped. He was left panting and looking at it, he had a word now, freelancer, and that song. He picked it up and put it on, tucking it under his shirt; it was warm against his body which felt so cold, he realized he was shivering, had been since he entered the house. _

_A small voice kept on calling from the phone, he picked it up. _

"_I'm ten years old," he said, his voice was emotionless, "My names Ricko, today's my birthday and my parents are dead." _

"_Oh my God sweetie," the women said, but Ricko wasn't listening anymore, someone was coming inside. _

"_Hello," an old nosy woman called, "I'm your neighbor Clare, I heard noises and your doors wide open. Have you been robbed?" _

_Ricko dropped the phone for the second time that day; the old lady seemed to hear it as he heard her feet beating against the carpet._

"_Hello," she called and then she was at the doorway. "Oh dear," she said, "Where are your…" she trailed off, she saw the blood, she saw them, Ricko blinked and she screamed…" _

Ricko got up, biting his lip to hold back the scream that had risen up inside him. He was on the floor, fallen off the bed, it took him a minute to realize where he was and why he was wearing cherub pajamas. He kicked the covers off him, he must have got tangled in them somehow, he was sweating, the pajamas were soaked, he was shivering just like he'd been so long ago. He grabbed onto the orb hanging from the same chain around his neck, he grasped the coolness and rocked, waiting for his body to stop shivering, for his teeth to stop chattering, for the images to disappear. The problem with him wasn't his inability to remember, but his _ability_ to.

He growled at himself, he was being an idiot, he couldn't afford to be so weak, not when he had to keep alive; he was just providing a weapon for his enemies. He saw the sketch, lying on the floor, he picked it up, held it close like he did Barney, he bit his lip. He finally stopped shivering, he got up, he needed to get out, he felt like he was suffocating. He silently and swiftly headed out, he looked down the corridor and saw the lift, he headed for it, finding the top floor he pressed it, he needed some fresh air, there had to be a way to the roof somehow.

Angel waited until the lift doors shut and it was on it's way up, then he left his room, putting on an old sweatshirt as he went. He had heard whimpering from Ricko's room, moaning, he hadn't interfered though, until he heard the thump. By the time he decided to go check it out though, he had heard Ricko leaving his room, heading for the lift. He guessed he needed some time alone, but that didn't stop Angel following him, just to make sure he was alright. Angel had to take the stairs though, "No one ever said looking after a teenager would be easy," he muttered grumpily as he dragged his tired body up.

Ricko got off on the top floor and found a door leading to some stairs up to the roof, he went up, breathing more easily as he saw the sky. It wassunset, the sun created colours in the sky which took his breathe away, he turned to find somewhere to sit and saw the lady, Fred, resting against a crate.

"Sorry," he quickly said, alarmed, heading for the stairs, "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"That's okay," Fred said, looking equally alarmed, "I'm not disturbed, I mean not disturbed because of you, of course I'm not disturbed in the other way, not that I'm perfect or anything. I think I was a little disturbed before, after I came from Pylea… I'm babbling aren't I." She got flustered when around people she didn't know.

Ricko smiled, he liked her she was… nice. "I'm good with babbling," he said quietly and moved another crate lying on the roof, turning it over and sitting on it.

They sat there in silence for a while, Ricko was content with that, not that he minded her talking; he just wasn't a big talker himself.

"Are you troubled?" she suddenly asked, Ricko started, looking at her. "I mean," she said, slightly embarrassed, "I don't mean in a ADD sense I mean worried, you know… not that you look it or anything, it's just I come up here to get away from all the thoughts that seem to spin in my mind. Even though I know I'm safe here with Angel and Gunn and Wesley and don't forget Cordy, it's just that I can't seem to get rid of them sometimes."

"I know what you mean," he muttered, looking out at the red and gold mixing with the sky.

"That was amazing," she said shyly and a bit more controlled now, "You know how you woke up Lorne like that."

"I knocked him out in the first place," he pointed out grimly.

There was another silence, not awkward but thoughtful, "Who's Grant," she suddenly said.

Ricko paled, looking away from her, he bit his lip and drew blood without even noticing.

"It's none of my business," Fred said quickly, concerned, "I'm sorry."

There was a silence, and then… "He was a kid a little older then me, a friend, he's dead now…"

"That's sad," Fred said, "for him." Another silence, "I love sunsets, their so colorful, they make me think that it's a whole new day and nothing bad can happen because theirs something as beautiful as this in the world."

Ricko smiled sadly, "Yeah me too."

"Connor makes me think that too," she said, "He's so cute and he smells so nice and…"she trailed off. "Ricko?" she called, "Rcko?"

Ricko shook his head, looking up slowly, he had a look on his face so lost and numb, he'd been thinking about his dream. "Sorry," he said, "I just got lost for a moment."

"I was lost for a while too," she said, "Even after I got rescued by Angel, but I found what I was looking for in the end, I don't know what it was but I found it, and here I am," she smiled at him, "We all find it sometime, or we get found."

"It must have been hard in Pylea," he said, looking at her, "You must have been lonely."

"It was, I was, but I got rescued, you will too you know," she smiled, "No one's lonely forever."

"I don't know if they can rescue me," Ricko said, standing up. "I mean maybe from the monsters, yeah, and the Agency, it might happen one day, but they can't rescue me from myself."

"What do you mean?" Fred asked, frowning, confused.

He moved towards the balcony, but stopped a meter away from it, "When I was little something bad, something really bad, happened and it… it was my fault, it was because of me. How do you atone for something, something like that… I don't even think I can, and I tried to forget," he laughed bitterly, "That didn't work either, it never does."

"You have to have faith," Fred said confidently, "And hope. You have to believe and it will happen one day, look at Angel."

"Yeah," Ricko nodded slowly, "I just don't know if I have that much faith, or if I deserve it." He looked down at the sketch in his hand and then folded it and put it in his pocket. "I think I'll go downstairs, I'm scared of heights, the suns already set anyway." He headed for the stairs.

Angel quickly moved from the stairs and opened one of the rooms, slipping in. He had heard the conversation between Fred and Ricko, a conversation filled with something under the surface on Ricko's part, Angel was sure of it. He waited for Ricko to get into the lift, then came out and headed for the staircase, he knew he had a lot of information here, to help him figure out how he was supposed to help this kid, he just had to put the puzzle together, and he would bet anything that the piece to connect it all was Ricko's parents.


	11. Unclean

CHAPTER 11

**UNCLEAN**

Ricko went downstairs, stepped into the lobby and spotted the disgruntled, sleepy British guy… Wesley, yeah that was it. The man looked at him through bleary eyes and then took a sip of his tea, seeming to be contemplating something. Ricko felt like he was getting the third degree, Ricko stiffened, scowling at him deeply; he didn't like it when people tried to inspect him, he felt like something inhuman and unclean. It didn't help that he was still in the cherub pajamas, which just made him feel plain stupid.

The British guy finally came to himself, giving a smile, a bit late and insincere "How did you sleep?" he asked, Ricko shrugged and went down the rest of the stairs, this guy seemed to look at him like a specimen, like the Agency did, Ricko resisted the urge to sock him one. There was silence as Ricko sat down on one of the chairs, awkward again in his surroundings, and feeling like an intruder. He licked his lips; he could use something to drink, he could also use a nice hot shower, he made a face, he felt unclean, in the physical sense too. He got up and headed for the staircase, there was a shower in his room, he just hoped it worked.

"Where are you going," Wesley asked quickly, snapping his head up from the text he had been poring over. This movement involuntarily caused his tea to splash over his shirt front. "Dammit," he exclaimed, at least the tea had gone cold, long forgotten. He turned red as he heard the boy laughing, but when he looked up the boy was already up the staircase and out of site. Wesley frowned, he put down his tea, heading for Angel's…. his office, grabbing a couple of paper towels on the way. All this talk of free lancers had roused up some buried memories of his training day as a watcher, he was sure he had heard reference of them before, but what he had been told he could hardly remember. Maybe it was time he put his pride aside and called a more experienced watcher… old was what he liked to think of it. He closed his door and picked up the phone, calling the number for Sunnydale, it was actually on speed dial, which didn't really surprise him; after all it was Angel's old phone. He thought, flinchingly, of the bill they would be getting, Cordelia had created a plan, limiting them to an amount of calls a week, that number was already over ridden, oh well, maybe Cordelia would think that it was Angel who had rung. Then someone picked up the phone, and a British voice came out of the receiver, "Hello?"

):

Angel knocked on Cordy's door, she was awake as he could hear her, otherwise he wouldn't have dared, she was more grumpy when she got up then he even was.

"Who is it?" Cordelia called, Angel rolled his eyes, how many people could it be.

"It's me," he still replied.

"Just a second," Cordelia said, there was some bumping and noise, and then she opened the door. "You know you didn't have to call out, it was just a joke, I knew it was you, you're the only one that knocks!"

Angel was speechless for a moment, taken by her twisted logic, but shook it away. "I need you to do me a favor," he said.

"Yeah, what?" Cordelia asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, "If it's to do your Christmas shopping for you mister, I'm out."

"No, no…. Wait …Cordy it's near the end of May?" he said, slightly confused again, he couldn't let this one slip.

"Never can be too early," Cordelia pointed out.

Angel just shook his head, "Anyway," he continued, "I need you to take Ricko shopping, you know buy him some clothes that fit."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes, "What do I get for it," she said, "You know it's hard to take a kid like that shopping, he obviously has no respect for clothes, or fashion sense…"

"Fifty bucks for your self," Angel quickly said.

"I'm there," Cordelia brightened up, snapping her door shut, "Do you want it to be today, because personally the sooner we get shopping the better."

"Cordy," Angel said, quickly before she could get any misconceptions, "There's no 'we', just you and him, I have to stay here, spend some quality time with Connor, and research a bit."

"You can spend quality time with Connor shopping," Cordelia argued, "And research can wait, anyway, the best bargains are always at night."

"So are vampires and demons," Angel pointed out.

"That's why we need you," Cordelia said in a matter of fact way and a sunny smile, she went into his room to check on Connor. It wasn't like Angel could really argue with that logic anyway.

Ricko walked down the stairs, showered, dressed in non cherub clothes, and holding his head which had begun to ache.

"Good morning," hands fell on Ricko's shoulders; he turned around and gave the man… Gunn… an unimpressed look.

"Didn't I even surprise you a little bit?" he asked. Ricko shook his head, turned around and just kept on walking.

"Okay then…" Gunn said, "Just you wait though," he grinned, "When you least suspect it I'll scare you," he followed Ricko down.

Fred was surprisingly downstairs already, so was Cordy changing Connor, and arguing with Angel, who was cooking something which didn't smell too bad, on a fry pan. Wesley was at the counter, staring into space and looking slightly disgruntled. Lorne lay on the couch, holding an ice pack to his head, and looking a few shades paler.

"Morning y'all," Gunn called downstairs, giving a bright smile. They all looked up at him with grumpy looks on their faces, Fred replied with a loud yawn.

"Sorry," she said, giving him a sheepish grin.

"I say right on sister," Cordy grumbled, and then she turned back to wheedling Angel.

"There's nothing good about it," Lorne groaned from the couch. "Do you have anything for hangovers, red eyes?" he turned to Ricko who had started to move towards the fry pan, a longing look on his face.

Ricko turned to him, whistled, and then, frowning heavily, went to stand near the door. The pain decreased instantly and Lorne got up, feeling refreshed. "Wow, I tell you what, this cherubs a miracle worker," he said, smiling and heading for Angel's pancakes.

"Thanks," he called to Ricko, who was looking out at the garden.

"S'okay," Ricko said quietly, not turning around. Then suddenly he was doubled over, holding his head, he vomited.

"Ewww," Cordelia couldn't help exclaiming.

Angel ran quickly as close as he could get, Ricko stumbled unsteadily out of the light; Angel grabbed him before he could fall. "What's wrong," he looked at him anxiously, concerned. "Was it the ice cream, I knew I shouldn't have let you eat the ice cream…"

Ricko shook his head emphatically, wiping his mouth with his sleeve; he was gasping for air, and swayed, unbalanced.

"There here," he said, his eyes wide, "There around here, they can feel my magic, they… we have to get out…" he looked panicked now, "I have to get out somehow, he's with them…. He's with them," he was trying to pull away from Angel frantically. "They can't find you guys, he'll kill you, and he'll take the baby. I have to get out, they'll follow me," he was practically dragging Angel, in his attempt to pull free.

"Who's he?" Wesley asked, getting to his feet quickly. "The one that's trying to take your magic?" he looked worried.

Ricko didn't reply, just pulled harder, "I can't let you guys get hurt," he yelled, turning on Angel, his eyes blazing, "Too many people already have, don't you understand I can't have you guys on my conscience too."

Angel just looked at him straight in the eyes, his gaze not wavering, "Guys were going down to the basement, were going barricade the door, take weapons with you and keep alert." He called to them calmly, Wesley was already taking immediate action, heading for the weapons cabinet, when it came to moments like this there was no question of who was in charge, it was just a matter of skill and understanding about how these things worked. None of them argued about creating fort and just holding it, they didn't want action, not if it was the un- killable creature of last night, or worse its creator.

The others started moving immediately; Gunn grabbed a few pancakes along the way, Cordy grabbed Connors baby bag just in case he got nippish or had an accident down there.

"You," Angel said firmly, dragging Ricko by his arm, "You're coming with me, and no argument." He followed the others down the basement stairs, still dragging Ricko who was struggling a little less then he was before. Angel kicked open the sewer entrance.

"Shouldn't we barricade that?" Fred asked nervously.

"To be on the safe side," Angel nodded, "But not too tight, use it as an escape route. I doubt anything's going to be coming up this way, though."

"How do you know," Lorne asked, evidently disbelieving.

"Because this is the way were going," Angel said grimly. "I doubt they'll come to the hotel, since the prey will be going somewhere else, but if any trouble should come your way, call me," he held up his cell phone which was on for once, Cordelia nodded, she always had her cell phone on her, no need to check. "Try and hold them off till I get back here."

"Where are you planning to go?" Cordelia asked.

"There's always that possibility they'll send out that creature," Angel said.

"They will," Ricko suddenly supplied, "They let it do the hunting and retrieving, all they need to do is start it on a scent."

"Then were definitely going to the old Karaoke bar," Angel said, taking it in his stride. "The spell should still work, right?" he turned to Lorne.

"Shreds of it will still be there, angel cake," Lorne nodded, "In it's burnt out husk, try the sides where the stage used to be, that was where it was put on the strongest. Bad singers, you know, I was tempted to knock some of them out myself."

Angel nodded, and then he receded into the dark, taking Ricko with him. Wesley closed the entrance after they were gone.

"Will you stop that," Ricko suddenly snapped, every muscle in his body was tense, Angel still held his arm in a firm grip, dragging him along beside his protests.

"Stop what?" Angel asked absent mindedly, trying to follow his memory to where the building next to Karitas was sewer wise.

"That humming," Ricko replied.

"I'm not humming," Angel said, still only paying half his attention to the conversation.

"Yes you were, just a minute ago," Ricko growled, obviously thinking Angel was making fun of him.

Angel turned to him, actually understanding what he had just said. "Wait I was humming, how can you hum and not realize it?"

"I don't know," Ricko shrugged, "You just were, it was an old Irish lullaby and it was annoying."

Angel looked at him in the eye, "Did you actually believe I was going to leave you, after everything I've told you."

"Yeah well words are different to actions," Ricko said, he looked Angel straight in the eye. "I should be running right now, alone. I'm more used to this sort of thing then you are, anyway they won't kill me… not this one… not yet, but he will kill you, your friends, and he'll take the baby. I don't want to be responsible for that, can't you understand, just let me go."

"No," Angel said, frustrated now, his voice rose, "And do you want to know why, because I can't have a kid I told I would help, get captured from the very thing I swore I would protect him from. I can't be responsible for his death, and what about what comes after it, the world taken over using your magic, by people like this, I don't think so, that's just a little too much for _my_ conscience to take."

Ricko bit his tongue, making an obvious attempt to hold back what he wanted to say, he dropped his gaze and nodded slowly.

"I get it," he said quietly, all the fight gone from him, "Just don't die alright."

"I won't," Angel nodded grinning.

Ricko stepped back, "You better not do that thing they do on movies, when they ruffle the kids hair, because I'm not a kid, this isn't a happy ending, and I just got my hair the way I like it."

As far as Angel could tell his hair was as scruffy as it had been the night before, but who was he to complain. "I won't mess with the hair," he said putting up his hands.

"Good," Ricko muttered, giving him a dark look, then they kept on walking, alert, in the silence, only broken by Angel's slight humming.

"Shutup," Ricko growled, Angel kept on going, unfazed. "No really," Ricko was grinning, and then suddenly the grin fell away, he tensed, seeming to be listening to something, Angel stopped immediately.

"They've got the creature on us," he said, Angel tried to strain to hear, but even with vampire hearing he couldn't, he could feel a slight chill though, he wasn't sure if it was the look in the boys eyes, or something else that was causing it, probably nothing to even do with instinct.

"We better hurry up then," he said, he didn't question Ricko, just grabbed his arm and picked up the pace, almost running flat out. Ricko kept up, although it was mainly because Angel was dragging him along.

"If this is a burnt out place," Ricko gasped, "And its morning, how are you going to get there?"

"I'm not," Angel said, "Just you, we'll come up in a building next to it, then I'll tell you where to go and try to hold them off while you get there."

Ricko said nothing to this, but seemed to whistle, there was a slight glow in his palm, which was gone as quickly as it had come.  
"What was that?" Angel asked.

"Nothing important," Ricko gasped, and said no more as they pounded through the sewers. They heard shouts behind them, and powerful flashlight beams, aimed their way, but Angel just picked up the pace, not even looking back, they'd lose them before they caught up; it was the creature he was worried about. Ricko tripped and fell, cursing, his pant leg was ripped and blood was seeping through, but he just got right up and kept on running, not even a whimper escaped his lips, some blood left a mark on the stone wall from his grazed hand as he used it to get up. Ricko didn't seem fazed at all about the people either, not like he had been this morning, a moment later, after the yells had died down and Angel had slackened the pace slightly, Angel found out why.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned. Ricko didn't even bother to waste breathe on a reply about that.

"Don't worry about them," he rasped, talking about their former pursuers instead, and coughing, "Their just Wolfram and Hart workers, it's him and the Agency you have to worry about, but I don't feel them around anymore. I suppose it's just the creature then."

"How far away is it?" Angel asked.

"Run faster," Ricko said, gasping, trying to remember everything his P.E teacher used to scream at him about learning how to run like a hare not a turtle, although he never did like P.E, so it was difficult, "It's caught my scent."

He could feel it at the back of his senses, or maybe at the edge, he didn't know, all he knew was that it was there, they had found it, rebooted it, and it wanted him. It was a silver shape in his senses, moving like a streak, closer and closer. He didn't know how it could tell, probably deductive programming, if a thing was moving a certain way it was heading to a place there, he didn't really care how it knew to run north, ever winding through unused streets, he just hoped it ran right past them and lost the trail. It didn't though; things never did what you told them to, and Ricko… he made it a rule not to do what anyone wanted him to, not unless he wanted to too.

"_After the ambulance arrived the police soon followed, they took Ricko with them back to their station. They had sopped when they had first seen him just staring at him, one had frowned. There were just two really, one man, Adam was nice, he sat in the back with Ricko, the other was silent_

_. They parked in the underground lot, a limo was sitting there, black and long, it shone in the lights, a red sports car was next to it, it was old though and shabby, it looked like it had come from a junkyard, the paint was peeling and faded. Ricko thought he liked the sports car better, it belonged to someone who valued hard work, the limo looked cold and hard though. Ricko tried to shake himself from these stupid thoughts, cars told you nothing about a person, they had no light shining from them, no feeling, they were just empty and cold, but when he passed the limo he still couldn't stop an involuntary shudder. _

_When they entered the police station it was filled with a bustle and phone ringing, but to Ricko it was mainly filled with different coloured lights, and voices. Each persons face was like a maps, telling a long winding story, and showing Ricko the unknown paths, un- trodden yet, each thought sounded so loudly in Ricko's ears, and then there was the thousands of screams he could hear, at the edge of his senses, he pushed his magic against that, creating a brick wall of pure force to push it back, it stopped bothering him, but the people in the office and their noises were still there. Ricko felt dizzy, he had never experienced this before, and his magic was there, still bubbling._

_Some people at their desks glanced up at him, some giving sympathetic or encouraging smiles, but Ricko didn't notice those. Instead he registered, dark blue, going to get shot next week, light pink, loves roses, going to choose her career over her husband. _

_Then a lady at a desk all by itself in front of a door, a receptionist apparently for the chief, took his hand, smiled and squeezed it, setting him down in a plastic chair and sitting next to him, saying soothing things to him, now she… she was lilac, she was going to spill coffee over her favorite dress in a moment, next week she would get fired for taking money out of the finances even though she hadn't, she had a sick father to support. Ricko didn't want to see these things, he felt sick, he didn't know how to stop any of these things happening, he didn't know what to do, most of all he was scared that he couldn't. _

_The lady must have noticed he was looking a little pale, she told him to put his head down, to just breathe. Ricko did that, putting his head down, putting his hands over his ears so he didn't have to hear all these things, squeezing up his eyes so he didn't have to see the colours, but it didn't help they were still there, as though his eyelids didn't exist and his hands were nothing but air. So Ricko breathed, he began to feel slightly calmer, his head stopped throbbing, feeling slightly better, he took his hands away, opened his eyes and lifted his head, all those things were still there, but he tried to ignore them, it didn't work, but it made him feel better at least. _

_The two police man, Adam and his partner came out of the office, where they had gone in. Adam seemed angry, he was red in the face, he said something to the receptionist, who nodded, "Howard's back," he finally said, loud enough for Ricko to hear too, "He's asked us to come to his place later. But I tell you what he's flaming mad at his father, I don't blame him," then he stormed off, his silent partner hesitated, looking at Ricko, frowned again, then followed. _

_The receptionist got up, Ricko followed her to the door, which she opened and pushed him through, giving him a small sad smile. Ricko found himself in a room with two hard looking men in suits and two other men. The other men were far more interesting, one an aged man, around his late forties, was portly, and wore an expensive business suit, he had black air, with some streaks of grey He sat behind a large desk in the middle of the room, his chin resting on his clasped hands.. He had grey eyes, unusual, and would be mistaken for a kindly old grandfather, extremely handsome and well preserved for his age, except those eyes were chillingly cold, and he had power wrapped around him, in his stance, in his look, in his very being, and it was scary. Ricko could tell the man had magic, it shone through, grey, it was a strong sharp clear light, but that was all Ricko could see from the man, nothing else. This surveillance had only taken a second._

_Ricko then flicked his attention to the other man, he was young and even more handsome and startling then the old man, if that could have been possible, he had the man's features, except in a younger and what seemed a warmer way. He had black hair, like Ricko's; it looked as soft as velvet. His eyes were yellow, a ring of gold around them, and they gazed at Ricko with warmth. He had his arms crossed, and was the only one not wearing a business suit, along with Ricko. Instead he wore jeans and a sweatshirt, and leant against the wall casually, he also had powerful magic, of a gold colour. Both men, young and old, had a small scar, running across the eyelid of their right eye, like someone had painted it when their eye was closed, it was stark white and reminded Ricko of Scar from the lion King. _

_Ricko turned to the door but in the few seconds he had taken to evaluate the room the guards in business suits had already moved and blocked it, standing on either side of it. Ricko turned around, shaking slightly, the old man scared him more then he could even know, right down to his bones. _

_The man behind the desk smiled at him, a fatherly smile, his smile didn't reach his eyes, though few would notice it, it was cold and calculated, but it seemed to make his face even more handsome, despite it. _

"_Hello RIcko, how do you do? My names Sir Nathaniel Wolf," the man said, his voice was cultured and steady, almost calming, but Ricko could hear the power in it, but mostly the coldness, and he was suspicious despite the niceties. The man got up and moved towards Ricko, who took a step back, despite himself, or maybe because of himself._

"_I'm fine thank you," he said politely, keeping his voice as calm as Mr Wolf's, although he was tempted to ask him the time, which, if in any other company, would have made him burst out laughing. _

_Then the man came closer to him, but this time Ricko held his ground, Sir Nathanial held out his hand to shake, Ricko did so, as firmly as he did, looking into his eyes defiantly. Sir Edward smiled again, as if satisfied, then gestured to the casually dressed young man, "This is my son, Howard," he said, Ricko now understood why they looked so alike. Howard was looking daggers at his father._

"_Frankly father," he said coolly, "I stopped being your son the day you shipped me off to another country and let a school deal with me, in case you haven't forgotten. I no longer depend on you and I don't share your views. You know why I'm here, and I know what you're really like, so drop the show and do what you came to, then let me go."_

_Sir Nathaniel sighed heavily, "Really son don't chuck one of your flights of fancy right now, we have a guest. Show some proper courtesy." He gave Ricko an apologetic smile, placing his hand on his shoulder, Ricko shivered again._

"_Are you quite all right?" Sir Nathaniel asked, concerned it seemed, "Is it too cold in here? Shall I turn on the heater?" _

"_Don't," Howard growled suddenly from the corner, stepping forward, his eyes seemed to be glowing with anger, his voice low and dangerous. "Do what you're going to, but don't act like you give a damn about this kid, don't do that to him, his parents just died, his world has turned upside down… don't do that or I'll…" _

"_You'll what?" Sir Nathaniel asked, a smile curling his lips, his eyebrows rose, mocking. He took his hand off Ricko's shoulder and stepped closer to his son, leaning in until he was face to face with him, "You'll stop me will you? Son I haven't lost my patience yet, but you know you don't want me to, your not two your twenty four, so act it," he said these words in exactly the same fatherly tone he had used on Ricko, yet it had lost it's charm, and was cold and commanding. Howard's eyes flashed, he looked as if he was about to fight. 'Please don't,' Ricko thought, 'Please don't,' he didn't want to see this man get hurt. As if Howard had almost heard his plea he looked at him, his eyes dimmed and he stepped back, trying to calm his breathing. _

"_Good boy," Sir Nathaniel's smile widened, "My apologies again," he turned to Ricko, "Some adults just don't grow up, now where were we.. Ah yes," he crouched down, at Ricko's level now, he suddenly took a red lollipop out of his front pocket, giving it to Ricko. "I brought you a treat," he said, smiling, Ricko took it, stared at it dumbly, more surprised then anything. _

"_Ricko… you must be wondering how I know your name first, mustn't you?" The thought hadn't even crossed Ricko's mind, Sir Nathaniel frowned slightly at Ricko's uninterested response. _

"_You should always protect your name," he said, as if he was really a grandfather giving RIcko important advice, "It's one of your most important secrets, if people have your name they can use all sorts of spells against you, even summon you wherever you are. Here I am though, rambling on, and you," he gave Ricko a kind, sympathetic look, "You've suffered so much already. I am so sorry for your loss, but what I really want to talk about was your magic."_

_So it was magic, Ricko had, had some doubts after leaving the house, after doing the puzzle, when these things had started to flood him he thought he was going mad. _

"_Yes it is magic," Sir Nathaniel said, smiling as he saw the recognition flash in Ricko's eyes. "I have it too, so does my son, no doubt you've recognized it in us, like I've recognized yours." _

_He waited for some kind of response, Ricko nodded, "It's like a colour, it's brighter and sharper then what I see in other people."_

_Sir Nathaniel gave a delighted laugh, it was infectious, but Ricko didn't laugh because he could hear the coldness in it. "See, he's already amazing and he's had no training, imagine what he could be with more," he turned to Howard, but Howard wasn't enthusiastic, he just stood, his gaze like steel. Sir Nathaniel turned back to Ricko, who was extremely confused. "You're something special Ricko," he said, smiling, "See we, with our strong magic, are considered rare among a world just filled with warlocks and witches who need spells and herbs to do magic, but you…. You're special. You're like a forge, compared to us, and were like matches against you. Your magic RIcko, it can do amazing things, it can save people, do you understand me?"_

_Ricko looked at him, and nodded slowly, his suspicion became stronger, he was wary. Enthusiasm spilled from Sir Nathaniel eyes, all he needed was that nod to move on._

"_Ricko I own a company, a law firm actually, along with my brothers. It's a large law firm RIcko, it doesn't only help the rich, it also helps people who are in trouble, people who have no homes, who need money or shelter. It helps kids like you, who don't understand what they have, and only for a small fee. I would like to take you on Ricko, my law firm would find you a home, and you'd be under our protection, nothing bad would ever happen to you again. You'd be a part of our family, how does that sound?"_

_Ricko's throat contracted, to be apart of a family, it was something he'd never been a part of before, he wondered what it would feel like. Then suddenly something broke his thoughts._

"_Ask him what he wants from you," Howard called, not unkindly to Ricko from the corner. "Go on, ask him."_

_Ricko looked at Howard, then down at SirNathaniel, he had learned that kids were more trustworthy then adults, Howard wasn't a kid, but he seemed as trustworthy as one. _

"_What do you want from me?" he asked. Sir Nathaniel frowned, glancing at Howard, then turned back to Ricko, a smile back on his face._

"_We want to help you mature your powers RIcko, to get better; we want to help you as you grow up. And we want you to help some people, people in need…"_

"_For souls," Howard snorted._

"_What do you say?" Sir Nathaniel asked an expectant smile on his face._

_Ricko looked down at the red lollipop in his hands, then up again at Sir Nathaniel's face, then towards Howard, who looked right back at him._

"_Nothing comes without a price, kid," he said quietly. _

_Ricko looked back down at Sir Nathaniel, who's eyes and whole concentration was trained on him, Ricko looked into those eyes and he saw nothing there, oh there was power, and manipulation, cruelty, and charm, but nothing else. Ricko took the lollipop and slipped it right back into Sir Nathaniel's front pocket._

"_I like chocolates," he said simply, looking at Sir Nathaniel straight in the eye. The meaning was clear, Sir Nathaniel straightened up, settled his jacket, and then he began to laugh. It was a cold laugh, with little pretense of humor, it was caused through enjoyment brought on by cruelty. Ricko stumbled back, falling into a guard, who grabbed his arms. Sir Nathaniel was not a man you crossed, and for the first time in his life, he felt true, raw fear, fear brought on by something which was dangerous, scary, which was evil. The laughter soon died down, his gaze hadn't left Ricko's._

"_That's quite alright," he said, smiling, his fatherly tone had come back. "I understand, I can appreciate your courage." He took out a white card and a pen, writing down something on it, and then he held it out to Ricko. Ricko didn't move, he was shaking so badly._

"_It's my business card," Sir Nathaniel said, smiling again, his eyes crinkled. "I'm usually at the office, so call me there, but after hours call me on the number in pen. Ricko still didn't make a move to take it, in the end the guard took it and shoved it into RIcko's pocket. _

"_I suppose you better go to the foster agency, I believe they already have someone lined up for you," he finally said, patting RIcko on the head, and smiling fondly down at him. "You're an amazing child you know that, call me anytime you want. Ricko had no intention to, but he didn't voice his opinion, he didn't say anything. _

"_You better take him," he said to the guards, he turned back to Ricko, "Nice meeting you," he said, "I can't wait for when we next meet." He extended his hand; Ricko shook it, this time afraid not to._

"_I'll take him," Howard suddenly said, stepping forward, "I'll take him to the foster agency I just need a word with my father, you two can go, I'm sure he's capable of waiting outside himself."_

_The gaurds took the hint and dragged Ricko outside, then left, heading for their limo. Howard turned to his father._

"_Who did you get?" he asked, "Who are you planning on sending that kid to?"_

"_Steve," his father said, packing up his papers on the desk into his suitcase, "An old employee, you remember him, used to be head of special projects, until his wife died. Shame really, brilliant man, he's an alcoholic now, and quiet violent I heard." Sir Nathaniel sounded like he thought that was quiet a bonus actually. "I'm not surprised if the boy doesn't ring me in a week, but I suppose I better give him a year, you know to lose all that trust and innocence welling inside him," he made a disgusted face, then turned around, heading for the door, Howard blocked his way, he was blazing with anger._

"_Your sick you know that," he hissed, his voice dead quiet, "You're a pitiful excuse for a human, your disgusting…. You're… your filth. How could you do that to a child?"_

_His father sighed, shaking his head, and stepped back. "Really son," he said, putting his hand on his shoulder, "You do really need to grow up. The world is a hard cruel place; you have to do what you can to survive. You trust too easily, when this child grows up what makes you think he's going to be any less then what were going to make him. The world teaches harder lessons then I do, I'm just using them to my advantage. When are you going to accept that and settle down?"_

"_What?" Howard asked sarcastically, "Join in the family business with you and my uncles, huh? Learn the tricks of the trade? Become one happy evil family? I'm not a client to be conned, Dad, I've lived with you and I know what your like, it's a bit late for that."_

"_Actually," his father said, raising his eyebrows and stepping back, "I've started a separate agency, it's unnamed, it doesn't really have a purpose yet or an owner. We've all funded it though, your uncles and I, and we all agree to make you the owner, were worried about you, you seem to have no drive, no direction or ambition."_

"_Go give the job to one of your favorite lawyers, because I don't want it." Howard growled, "I already have a job and a life, I don't need you, and I certainly don't want to see you again. It's been six _years;_ do you really think that after all that time I would actually want to go into business with you?" Howard asked disbelieving; he turned around heading for the door, he paused, "You really are a bastard, you know that," he said quietly and walked out. _

"_Why thank you," Sir Nathaniel called, shaking his head, give them another year, both of them, and they would have grown up, seen enough of the world to realize that he was right._

**Okay a bit of weirdness, but establishes some of my other pointless storylines, review please. : p**

**Sairra**


	12. Leap of Faith

**Leap of Faith**

They tried to run harder, "It's somewhere ahead, maybe we'll be able to get there, it's probably lost the trial," Ricko gasped. They had to skid to a halt at the man hole, Angel climbed up first, Ricko followed.

Angel crouched down, Ricko was white, "It's somewhere in here," he whispered urgently, "How did it know?" Angel didn't know, all he was concerned with were those claw feet he could hear clicking on the cement floor, the creature was sniffing the air, trying to catch Ricko's scent. "Angel," Ricko hissed, Angel put up his hand, silencing him, he was trying to find the sounds of the creature again, its click of it's claws had disappeared, it had stopped sniffing.

"Angel I really think you should look up now," Ricko said, something in his voice made Angel do what he said, the creature stood right on top of the car in front of them, looking down at them. Its gaze was intelligent; saliva dripped from its jaw, Angel was just so astonished it hadn't even made a sound, or maybe that he hadn't heard it.

"Run," Ricko screamed, Angel didn't need to be told, he was already up, grabbing Ricko by the scruff of his neck he began to sprint, the exit was back where the now roaring creature was, so he headed for the stairs, a plan was forming in his mind.

The creature was fast pounding behind them, but it was behind them, which gave them a slight advantage, Angel burst through the door and slammed it behind them, running up the stairs and dragging Ricko along behind him, there were a lot of flight of stairs. The stairs were hindering the creature, but not as much as Angel would have hoped for. He slammed through on the door in the side of the seventh flight, panting, it lead to the main building. No one was out in the corridor; it looked like a block of apartments. Angel raced through to the elevator on the other side, pressing the button the doors sprung open immediately, he dumped Ricko slightly unceremoniously on the floor, and pressed the button to close the doors, helping it along for a while, then he hit the button for up as he heard the creatures roar. The elevator gave a slight groan, slow to start up. Angel pressed the button frantically, then suddenly claws were ripping through the metal, a jaw snapping through, Angel jumped back, almost getting a piece taken out of him. Ricko got up and hit the creature with a well aimed kick, the creature stepped back, stunned, and then the elevator finally started to shoot up. Ricko laughed panting and leaning against the wall, Angel did the same, then Ricko's laugh suddenly died away as he saw what number was illuminated.

"Why are we going up?" he asked, slightly pale.

"Don't worry I have a plan," Angel said, "How long do you reckon before it reaches us from the stairs?"

"Oh it will be right behind us," Ricko said, shaking his head. They were both exhausted, but when the elevator doors sprang open they began to run again even though Ricko's lungs were burning, they headed for the staircase again, and slammed through the door, Angel wondered who was going to pay for all the broken locks, but only briefly. The creature was two flights down, it roared when it spotted them.

"Get up there," Angel said to Ricko, turning towards the creature, who was heading up. "I'll hold him off, you climb down the gutter into a window or something. " So it wasn't exactly the best thought out plan in the world, but it was the only one he had.

"No," Ricko said, "That thing will rip you to shreds if you try and stop it."

"If I go out there I'll die too," Angel said, "Burst into flames, then dust remember, believe me the worst way for me to die. I have more chance here."

"No you don't," Ricko said, "I can't explain here, but just... come on," he pulled on Angel's arm. Angel didn't budge, the creature was a flight and a half away now, it's purpose never wavering.

"Go," Angel said in that calm but commanding voice again. Ricko didn't waver this time, just tugged again, Angel turned around looking him in the eye, Ricko's eyes were blazing with frustration.

"I know what I'm doing, trust me," he pleaded, he pulled more insistently on Angel's arm, but Angel refused to move, he was going to protect this kid, no matter if it got him killed, that was what helping people was about, sacrifice.

"Angel," Ricko screamed with frustration, "I am not leaving without you." Angel looked at him, saw the truth in those flaming eyes, and started to run up the staircase, dragging RIcko again.

"Come on then," he muttered, heading for his most certain doom, not that he was any worse off.

Near the end of the stairs Ricko pushed forward, holding his side, he muttered something, which sounded like the word he had used last night, and then grabbed Angel's arm for support. Angel was surrounded by shining red magic, it covered his skin, shone brightly, and then disappeared.

"Come on," Ricko said hoarsely, tugging weakly on his arm, Angel slammed the door open, covered his face, expecting to feel searing pain, instead he felt nothing. He felt awed, this wasn't like Pylea, this was his own universe, he was standing here on a roof, in the middle of the day, perfectly unarmed, suddenly his bodily pain seemed to float away as he saw the blue sky and fluffy white clouds, a roar from the creature brought him back to reality, it was one flight away, scrabbling awkwardly and finding it hard to gain purchase in it's excitement and anticipation for the capture.

Angel slammed the door shut and pulled an almost limp Ricko towards the edge of the roof, the old Kareoke building was on the right side, he looked down, it appeared to be a long way down, but he was sure he could do it; it was nothing to a vampire.

"Get on my back," he told a weak Ricko, who was shivering with exhaustion, Ricko did what he said, clasping onto his neck and Angel gripped his legs with his hands, straightening up.

"Planning to give me a piggy back ride, huh?" Ricko asked shakily, joking.

"Nope," Angel said, stepping onto the edge of the roof, "This is a lesson in jumping."

"No," Ricko suddenly squealed, fear laced in his voice, fear different to what he was like this morning, this time it was normal, everyday fear. He gripped onto Angel's neck tighter, until Angel could hardly breathe, not that he had to, but it was always good to have the option open.

"Ricko," Angel gasped, after he found he was frozen into place and guessing Ricko was the cause, trying to get enough air in to talk, "Can you just loosen your grip a little buddy.What's wrong?"

"I'm scared of heights," Ricko said, burying his head into Angel's shoulder, his grip did, relieving loosened slightly.

"What," Angel exclaimed, disbelieving. "We have an unstoppable creature behind us, and you're conquered by your fear of heights? Come on, it's not that bad, just let me go, you don't even have to watch, I know what I'm doing."

"I'm too scared," Ricko whimpered, his voice muffled in Angel's jacket.

'But you were up on that roof with me," Angel gasped again, Ricko's grip had tightened. "And you were on the roof with Fred this morning."

"Yeah but I didn't look down, and it wasn't this high," Ricko wailed, not even realizing that Ricko shouldn't have really know about this morning. "And we weren't about to jump off it."

"Ricko, just let me go, I won't let you go, this is a controlled jump, were not going to just free fall," Angel said with some difficulty.

"I can't," Ricko muttered helplessly, burying his face deeper, "I'm sorry Angel," he said, "I just can't."

"Come on we've gotten this far," Angel chided; encouragement didn't move Ricko at all.

Then they heard the creatures roar on the other side of the door, and it was slamming into it with all it's body.

"Please Ricko," Angel gasped, Ricko just whimpered. "I won't let you fall, we'll do this very slowly okay, I'll even tell you when I'm going to jump okay. See ready….," Angel said as calmly and confidently as he could through a nearly crushed windpipe, the creatures banging was getting more insistent, the door was on it's last leg. "Trust me," it was his last attempt, his last plee.

Then suddenly Angel found that he was able to move, and he jumped out into thin air just as the creature burst through the door.

**Please Review, hope you liked. : p**


	13. The Begining

**THE BEGINING**

_Ricko walked into the shiny building, lawyers in pristine suits bustled around about there business, this was there they lived… evil. Ricko's clothes were charred and black, his face soot streaked, he was eleven, a whole year since he'd been in that police office, given back the offer, now he was looking at the building with awe, wiser and older, he couldn't help having another pang, wondering where he'd be now if he had accepted. He imagined himself in a nice air conditioned room, good clothes on, eating Doritos and playing a play station or something. He doubted, wryly if he'd be like he was now, bruised and battered, a black eye and split lip, soot covering him, finding it hard to breathe and burns in multiple places, on second thoughts who knew, he might have even been even more battered._

_Despite his sorry state, and the two suited men on either side of him, he swaggered, presenting a tough image, you weren't hard and the world ate you up and spat out your bones in a second. He swung his pack down, a small bag he had used for school, now it contained all his worldly possessions, exactly the ones he had taken from his parent's house, beside some store bought gum, he had acquired a taste for it, and especially fruit flavors, he also had the business card in his pocket, creased and stained, but he had kept it. He took out a stick of gum and slung his backpack over his shoulder, popping a piece of gum into his mouth. He chewed loudly and rudely, giving some of the lawyers a nasty grin and a wave, he was putting on a show for them, he was so tired and just wanted to sleep and never wake up, after the thing he had done…. He probably deserved to die, but he had learnt this past year you kept going, put on a show, pretended to be hard, and you got by…. You got by and you survived, it was life, he wasn't living it, but he was surviving. _

_They got into an elevator, Ricko saw the guards hands braced close to their guns, Ricko wasn't about to run, he had no where to go, he couldn't go to Carlos and Maria's place, they had offered him a home, a family, but he had given that to Jas, maybe he could go stay with other friends, but he didn't really want to see them either. He thought of Kelly for a second, then brushed her away, he wasn't dragging her into it, mostly he thought of Jasmine, he couldn't help it, though it made him feel sick, he remembered her cries, "Rick, Ricko, don't go, please don't go. You said you'd stay with me, you said you'd protect me. Ricko, don't go stay, you're the only thing I have left." She'd grown a lot, like him she wasn't just a year older, she was a lifetime older, he could never see her again though, never, poor baby. _

_He shook his head, trying to clear it, and stretched casually, yawning. _

"_How many floors has this building got," he complained, giving a forced grin, he couldn't think of those other things, he had to be sharp. The guard's remained expressionless; Ricko checked the numbers, a big button labeled 10, was illuminated. Hard to escape from top floors, Ricko would need all his wit, just in case they got tired of him, he had obtained a good vocabulary and had learnt to be crude, it wasn't too hard too, especially when he was around people he didn't like. _

"_So," he said looking at the two guards', "Do you reckon me' jacket will impress," he tugged on the ragged leather jacket, which had almost burnt in the fire, and had lost a sleeve. "I put it on especially for 'em, newly bought and all." _

_The gaurds didn't even look down at him. "You guys ditch the glasses, huh?" he asked, looking up at them, grinning, remembering the last gaurds who had worn standard glasses with their uniform. "Got in the way of seeing the criminals, or too MIB? Bad fashion statement that one, seeing as Will Smith's the only one who can, "make it look good." Get it, it's from the movie," This time he got a response from one of the guards, who smiled. _

"_Oh yeah," Ricko yelled eccentrically, jumping into the air, "We got a smiler over here. So what's your name, Bob, Harry, Charlie, Nathan, no that's too much like your bosses name, right?"_

"_**He'**s not our boss," the other one suddenly said loudly._

"_Okay," Ricko said, putting up his hands in defense. _

"_So what are your names?" Ricko asked._

"_Top secret information," the non smiler said, settling his coat, but Ricko saw that he was trying to disguise a grin._

"_Fine then," Ricko said, squeezing up his face in concentration, "You shall be hereafter known as Bill and Ben, the guardsmen. Bill for the smiler, Ben for the non one." _

_Bill shrugged, he obviously had no disagreements. They stood in silence for a while, the elevator stopped and opened onto an office, Ricko looked up at Bill and Ben and he had an inkling he knew them, but he couldn't place their faces. They pushed him gently into the much larger, much nicer office, and the elevator doors closed, Ricko swaggered in, the office had large windows, Ricko made a note to stay away from them, he paled slightly at the thought of the height, then he paid his attention to the man at the desk, he was writing out what looked like paperwork, with the large pile of paper on the other side of the desk. He looked up and Ricko took a slight step back. A young face, with dazzling white teeth, handsome features, a scar and yellow eyes rimmed with gold, eyes which had chilled reasonably since Ricko's last meeting, looked at him. He got up, stretched, and popped something from a bowl into his mouth, chewing, he picked up the bowl and moved around his desk, sitting on the edge and looking at Ricko. _

"_Hello," he finally said. Ricko looked at him up and down with returned intensity, he wore a suit, a red tie, shining shoes, and there was only a shadow of the person Ricko had met before. Ricko shook himself, looked Howard in the eyes and gave him a grin, which showed all his teeth._

"_Hello," he said, chewing his gum furiously again. "Seen you got a new wardrobe, eh? Or maybe a new fashion designer?" he gestured at Howard's suit._

"_No niceties," Howard's voice was cold, he looked at Ricko, "you know why you're here, I know why you're here, what's your answer."_

_Ricko didn't say anything just looked at him, seeing if he was for real or not. _

"_Come on," Howard snapped in a voice which would make a normal person jump, Ricko just blinked slowly, "I don't have all day."_

_There was a long strained silence; neither of them said anything, Howard was waiting, and so was Ricko, he finally realized what he was waiting for wasn't going to come. _

"_You've grown up," he said quietly._

"_So have you," Howard returned. Ricko supposed that was true, but he hadn't gone as far as Howard, not yet._

_There was more silence, Ricko felt tired, the spawn of evil turned evil he supposed, it was just a little more of good that had left the world, he was tired of it. _

"_Want one?" Howard finally asked, holding the bowl towards Ricko, Ricko looked down, it was filled with chocolates. _

"_You remembered," he said in surprise, "Spose evil's got a good memory, eh?"_

"_Don't," Howard said, it wasn't the passionate don't he'd heard last time, just a request to Ricko, Ricko thought that most of the passion had gone out of him anyway, gone with the warmth. "Don't speak like that, you have a good education, use it, don't slump down far, the acts smart, but don't get lost in it." Ricko looked at him, maybe not all the passion had gone, there was still some sincerity left, he looked tired though, and aged, he really had grown up, Ricko was scared that he was bordering on that, he didn't want to grow up, not for a long time, maybe never._

"_So are you going to take one?" Howard asked wearily, "Do you accept? I'm getting bored here" he looked away from Ricko. _

"_Got gumm," Ricko said, giving another toothy grin and chewing loudly._

_Howard looked at him, his eyes intense, he seemed to be having an inner struggle, and then Ricko saw the shadow of him thrust aside, and Howard produced a gun from inside his jacket, pointing it at Ricko, a large cold smile showing his teeth was plastered on his face. _

"_I was hoping you weren't going to say that," he said, his voice was cold, hard, and business like. Ricko stared at the barrel, he tensed, but didn't move._

"_You just going to shoot me, huh?" he asked, watching Howard. "I'm no use to you dead."_

"_No I suppose not," Howard said, "Come in," he called out, a door behind Howard opened, Howard didn't even turn. Ricko recognized the guard from last time, but his main attention was the struggling, crying, pleading girl in his arms. Tears streaked down her face, she saw Ricko and tried to struggle out of the guard's vice grip, but she soon winced and stopped, the guard held a gun to her head. _

"_Oh God Ricko," she whimpered, "Please help me," the guard let her talk, he had a vicious smile on his face. Ricko's blood ran cold, he froze, they had Kelly, for a moment Ricko couldn't even think, it was his fault she was here, and then his thoughts started to move furiously, you had to be tough to survive. _

"_We'd really like you to choose, Ricko," Howard said, "You know free will, at least the senior partners really want you to, I don't really care."_

"_So what's the deal?" Ricko asked, trying to formulate a plan, ignoring the gun barrel pointed at him, taking a step closer, "I agree and you let her go, it's all happy little elf? I don't think your going to let her go, and I don't think that I'm going to be very happy working with you guys. I mean your not exactly fair are you? Two guns pointed at two weaker opponents, no honor, you know."_

"_Ricko, don't let him shoot me," Kelly was sobbing with fear, Howard looked over at her._

"_Wise little thing, isn't she," he said, "I think she gets it a bit better then you…" Ricko took the opportunity, Howard's defenses were down, Ricko grabbed the gun, wrenching it out of Howard's hand with all his might, using a little bit of magic to weaken Howard's hand, but he was weak, it was the last of his magic, except for the wall and he couldn't take that down, he had no help, but he did have the gun. _

_Ricko was panting, backing away from Howard he held the gun up, pointing it straight at his chest.  
"I know how to use a gun," he said, "My parents taught me, you move and your dead."_

_Howard looked at Ricko steadily. "What about her?" he asked, nodding his head in the Kelly's direction, "You shoot and she's dead, you don't put down the gun and she's dead," Kelly sobbed harder. _

_Ricko's mind was working, he had a desperate plan, it wasn't the best of plans, but it was the only one he had, you had to be tough to survive, hopefully this would save Kelly._

"_Why should I care about her?" he snapped._

"_Ricko," Kelly cried, she was pleading with him, "Help me, why are you… Ricko it's me, were friends… were friends…." _

_Ricko glanced, at her, he wanted to put down the gun, he couldn't let her die, but then he turned away. If he put down the gun she was as good as dead, maybe he could bluff his and her way out._

"_She's nothing to me," RIcko said louder, over Kelly's sobs. _

_Howard shook his head, "Your not ready for that yet, you can't bluff your way out using that. You care about her, she's your friend, and even if she wasn't you wouldn't let her die."_

"_You so sure?" RIcko asked, his hand was shaking, he held the gun with both hands, steadying himself, he looked into Howard's eyes, and he knew the next thing he said would be true, Howard was putting on a show, portraying something he wasn't just like Ricko, Ricko would return the favor then. "You won't kill her," he said confidently, "You're not ready for that yet." _

"_Can you really take that risk?" Howard asked, he held Ricko's gaze, Ricko looked back defiantly, had to be tough to survive, had to put on a show to get him and Kelly out._

"_Please Ricko," Kelly gave a final quiet plea, breaking the silence, "Help me."_

_Ricko still held his gaze with Howard, he was positive now, Howard wouldn't do it, wouldn't shoot her, "Prove it then," he said, feeling his insides squirming with fear but holding steady, he didn't even glance Kelly's way, "Shoot her." _

_The shot rang out, the guard let her body fall to the floor, she was dead before she hit it. Ricko and Howard both turned, Ricko stared, shocked, his hands fell weakly to his sides, he heard a roaring in his ears, everything seemed so strange, Howard rose, knelt down, checked her pulse, then he suddenly rose, his eyes blazing with inner anger, he grabbed the guard by the throat, slamming him against the wall. _

"_I told you not to," he roared in fury, in anguish, "You weren't supposed to hurt her, I ordered you not to shoot, at all costs. She was a child… she was just a child."_

"_Actuall,y I ordered him to shoot," the cold voice came from the door, Sir Nathaniel stood there in a designer suit, as grandfatherly, handsome and unsuspicious as ever. "Technologies really amazing don't you think?" he asked, holding up a small ear piece. "Although Mathew," he said, walking forward and standing over the body, "I asked you to try and shoot her over the rug, now we have to buy new carpet, and I so did like this one."_

_Ricko backed away, stumbling; he was as white as a sheet. The roaring was still in his ears, he held up the gun pointing it this time at Sir Nathaniel, at the cold man, who stood over his friend's body. Howard had let the man drop, he was facing his father, shaking with anger. _

_Sir Nathaniel turned to Ricko, he gave him a polite smile, holding out his hands, bearing his chest. "Take a shot, boy," he said, gazing at Ricko with those eyes that were ice. He took a step towards Ricko, RIcko stumbled back, still holding the gun steady. "Come on Ricko," he said kindly, "Shoot me, act like a man, make your Daddy proud, avenge the little girl, you know all those important things." He lent closer to Ricko, "Be a hero," he said. _

_Ricko looked into his cold gaze, he saw Howard looking on, not moving at all, Howard seemed almost expectant, almost hopeful that the boy would do something he never could, Howard wouldn't stop him. _

_Ricko looked back at him, Sir Nathaniel was evil, but Ricko… Ricko wasn't, he was just a kid and he couldn't shoot anyone, not now. Ricko felt his hand fall, Sir Nathaniel laughed, and then Ricko ran with his laughter ringing in his ears, he headed for the double doors, slammed through them. _

"_Let him go," Howard yelled to the two stunned guard's waiting outside, one of them stepped towards him, Ricko waved the gun, the man stopped._

"_We can help you get out of here," he said frantically, looking at Ricko with sincerity. _

"_Don't come near me," Ricko yelled, cried, pleaded, they were nice to him, and they would be killed just like Kelly if they helped him. Ricko turned tail and ran, dodging people, they were all a blur to him anyway, Ricko got to the ground floor somehow untouched, unnoticed, he streaked through the doors into the light, running as hard as he could, trying to get as far away from the place as he could, he didn't notice his backpack's weight, jumping up and down with his movement. _

_He finally stopped in an unfamiliar street, gasping for air, he fell to his knees, exhaustion filled him, his vision was red. Everything seemed too bright, too normal, Kelly had died and the world just kept on spinning. It finally cleared and he saw the gun, still in his hands, the day had lasted an age. He took the bullets out of the gun, throwing them furiously to the ground, good use they had been. There was a park nearby, a big blue bin on the curb; he chucked the gun in there. Then he just walked, he didn't know where to, he just kept on walking. All he could hear were Kelly's pleas to him, "Please help me." He thought of her parents, they were always so nice to him, what would happen, would Kelly just be reported as missing, another person lost in the large world. He saw Kelly's smile, her blue eyes twinkling, the way she drawled, she had been the only one to befriend him when he went to school, and the first friend he had ever had. He had stopped, he looked up, he was in front of a block of apartments, old and dirty, his eye immediately spotted the one with white lace curtains._

_He stood in front of the door, staring at it, for what seemed like hours he stood there. Then he heard someone coming down the stairs and he quickly turned away, running down the street and away from the neighborhood he had lived in for a year. He headed for the bus terminal, taking the longer root to avoid the burnt out house, he didn't want to see what had happened, he couldn't see any smoke so he guessed they had put out the fire. _

_He headed for one of the bus ports, he knew which one's headed out of town, he sat at the one he liked the sound of. He checked his backpack, making sure his cash was in there, an old radio station played over the crackling speakers. Ricko just sat there and waited, not noticing anything, just waiting. _

_Mathew had chased after the boy, Howard and his father were left in his office._

"_I quit," he finally said, coolly. "I'm not going to do this any more, father," he spat the word out vehemently. _

"_Now, son," Sir Nathaniel said quietly and coolly, "You know what we chatted about before."_

"_I can't do this anymore, I can't put on this charade," he said, shaking his head angrily, "It's over, find a new C.E.O, I'm not going to be responsible for any child's death, at least I can **protect** my friends, I'm not like you."_

"_Don't make such a fuss of it," Sir Nathaniel said coolly, "We had her turned before, she hasn't realized that something's changed yet, though, still thinks she's a weak sniveling human. That bullet wasn't silver, she'll get up in a few hours or so, after the shock and sleeping potion we gave her wears off." _

_Howard looked at him with all the disgust and fury he could muster, he headed for the door, "You walk out that door and there all dead," his father said, watching him, Howard stopped._

"_You enjoyed the power," his father stated, Howard didn't say anything, he flinched slightly with shame. His father didn't have to explain, that's how he knew it was true, he didn't have to explain the power that he meant, the power of holding life and death in your hands, and taking it away, snuffing out a small crying screaming child out. _

"_I have the agencies information," his father said, "The keys, the details, your funds, everything in here." He held out a vanilla folder. Howard turned to look at it. "I'm not giving you a choice Howard," he said impatiently, "**I** didn't make you feel the way you did just now. You're like me, it's time to stop running and embrace it." _

_Howard took the folder, "Will this save them?" he asked looking at his father._

"_From me," his father said, his lips curling, "I can't promise anything from **you**," Howard looked at him with no fight left in him. _

"_What are you going to do about a C.E.O?" Howard asked._

"_We've got someone in mind for the long term job," his father said, "But until then we'll find people to fill it in here and there, someone who won't stuff it up too much. What are you going to call the agency?" he asked._

_Howard laughed bitterly, "I don't give a damn about it," he said, "You name it something, or better yet lets just leave it as the Agency, it can show how much I care. You're forcing me to do this father, I'm not going to become enthusiastic like you."_

"_But your on your way," his father said, stopping him from walking out the door once more. "It's true what the boy said, you have grown up. I didn't make you work so hard at the job Howard, I didn't make you do all those things you did in our name, I didn't make you enjoy the work or the power, think about it son, your already becoming like me." _

"_I haven't taken the plunge yet, though," Howard said quietly, his back turned. "I haven't become completely like you, and I pray that I never do."_

"_Son," Sir Nathaniel laughed, "It's taken a lot of work to get where I am, for that you have to give up a lot, but it's worth it. For now just try and enjoy the job."_

"_That's it," Howard said, turning around, his eyes filled with despair, "I'm afraid that I don't have to **try**." His father didn't provide any help, any advice, just smiled proudly, as if he really was a father with a son he cared about, a son who had done something good. Howard quickly walked out he should have known better. He bumped into his secretary, Beth. _

"_Oh Howard I really couldn't get in those reports, I've been so busy and…" Howard stared at her coolly, he grabbed her arm, squeezing it hard, she cried out._

"_That's okay," he said, giving her a friendly smile, his eyes remained cold, "Of course that is if you want to go missing, just another unfortunate case in L.A, what will happen to your dear niece, I wonder." She looked at him, fear in her eyes, he let her go and she stumbled back, tears began to trail down her cheeks._

"_I…I'll get them in," she stammered when he looked at her expectantly, taking a threatening step, he enjoyed the sudden power. _

"_Good," he laughed cruelly, "Oh and take some advice babe, enjoy yourself," he turned his back on her, walking out, out of the office, out of the building. To survive in this business, to survive being his father's son he had to be hard… to survive. _

**Please Review, I know this may sound extreme but I'm not continuing till I get at least one review, cause I'm not really sure if _anyone's_ reading it, lol. **

**Sairra: p**


	14. Go up there!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

**GO UP THERE!**

"Go up there," A loud whisper could be heard, traveling up from the basement into the sun strewed office. A woman's voice, bossy and demanding.

"I think it would be better if we waited until we got word from Angel," a man's voice, British.

"Uh-uh, I'm not waiting that long for some vague vampire to come back, I have things to do." The woman again, "Anyway all you have to do is open the door, and look out, if there's any monsters _then_ we'll wait."

"How about you go out," the British man.

"Are you crazy," incredulity now, "Have you seen that monster, it's like a miniature T-Rex, except it's a lot smarter and has metal claws. I don't want to die, thank you very much."

"Yes and I'm just all for dieing," wry, and a bit panicky.

"Well I'm young, I have a lot more to live for," as if stating the obvious.

"Yes, thank you, you're extremely flattering. I'm only in my thirties you know," indignant, a man has his pride after all.

"Look, will you two be quiet, you sound like a married couple or something," this coming from a thoroughly annoyed third party. "Why don't I just go, if that will make you feel better?"

"No, Gunn," the woman said, "We need you for protection, let Wesley go, anyway he's the boss."

"Yes and I'm telling you to go," a very smug and satisfied boss.

"I have Connor, who's sleeping by the way so we should just stop fighting and Wesley should go," touché British man.

"Well I'm happy to take Connor off you're hands," a small scuffle.

"Stop it, you'll wake him," the scuffling stops. "Anyway he needs a woman's touch, and I'm sorry Wes but despite the contrary evidence, you're just not a woman."

"Oh really, well Fred certainly is," satisfaction again. An annoyed silence, 2-1, in favor of the British pansy.

"Fred can you hold him for a second," the rustle of cloth, a smug air preceding the conversation, coming from the British man. Then suddenly….

"Just go up there," forceful now, this woman meant business, another scuffle sounds of protest.

"Hey, is there need for brute force, Cordy my sweet."

"Stay out of this Lorne," she snapped, the sound of quickly retreating footsteps.

"Stop pushing me."

"See I've gotten you all the way up, now all you have to do is open the door," satisfaction to the other party, all's fair in love and war, which meant points didn't matter.

Then suddenly footsteps could be heard from upstairs in the sun strewed lobby, silence immediately fell, the argument forgotten. Who knew how long they'd been up there Confident steps, walking over to the counter, ringing the old bell.

"Hello, hello is anyone here?" a few minutes of silence, then, "I'm looking for Angel Investigations."

Cordelia suddenly jumped towards the door, pushing Wesley aside, "Client," she hissed.

"Trap," Wesley muttered, trying to pull her away, to restrain her.

"Money," Cordelia moaned.

"I suppose I got the wrong place," the man could be heard muttering to himself outside the door. His footsteps were receding.

"If you don't let me go Wes," Cordelia hissed, "My very sharp heel shall be connecting with your toe."

Wesley still held her, but there was a moment of hesitance, a moment he could not afford. Cordelia stamped down her foot, Wesley howled with the pain and grabbed _his_, almost falling down the stairs. Then Cordelia was out, like a wild animal she began to run towards the man, heels or no heels.

"Wait," she called out frantically, he was at the door. He turned and Cordelia was suddenly very aware of her appearance. Giving a sunny smile and a trying to settle her untidy hair, she greeted this potentially rich and definitely hot client.

"This is Anal Investigations, we helpless help, how may you help we," that didn't sound exactly right, she turned red.

The man's eyebrows raised and he gave a flashing smile full of white teeth which made Cordelia feel a bit weak, and he laughed, such a nice sound, Cordelia gave a smile in return.

"I think I got the wrong place," he said, grinning. "I need investigating of a different kind." He gave that ringing laugh again, it was so infectious, so charming, such a nice laugh… such a nice body… no… client…. unreachable territory.

"What I meant to say was this is Angel Investigations, I'm Cordelia Chase," she held out her hand to him, "I'm an actress, or an actress to be really it's only a matter of time."

He stepped down and took her hand, but instead of shaking it, held it to his lips, all the while looking at her admirably with those yellow eyes, a white scar on his right eyelid, only fully seen when he closed his eye. It was nice and neat, just a small groove in his skin, like a tattoo, Cordelia thought it was cute and daring. His eyes reminded Cordelia of the sun, or the stars, whichever way you looked at it they were beautiful and deep and they seemed to burn with an inner passion, an enjoyment of life. He had soot black hair, angelic looks and pale skin; he had successful and handsome written all over him. But he didn't seem dumb, his demeanor conveyed confidence and a sense of power he wore like a cloak, as if he could handle anything. Woman must have thrown themselves at his feet, and he looked like a flirt, but nothing more then that. He was tall and well built and looked like he knew how to fight, as well as knowing how to be charming.

Cordelia frowned slightly as the pearly white teeth were unsheathed again, that smile seemed so familiar, that wolfish grin, that small half smile, the face too… actually the whole entourage reminded her of someone. He looked exactly like someone she knew, yet she couldn't place her finger on it. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind as the man straightened.

"So, what do you want," Cordelia rolled her eyes, there went Wesley again, trying to pretend he had cool. "I warn you, I am armed."

"Wesley," she gasped, "That's no way to treat a client." She turned to him, scowling, they had all come out of the basement, except for Lorne, a green demon wasn't the best person to greet anyone.

"Yes, well it depends, is he a client, or is he something more si…" Wesley turned to Connor, who had just begun to cry. "Oh is he okay," he put down the crossbow, and went over to Fred, who was bouncing him up and down in an attempt to hush him.

Cordelia rolled her eyes; some people just didn't know how to play dirty. Would a little bit of finesse go astray either? She turned her attention back to the man, Gunn stood beside her, trying to be amour, or protection, he just didn't seem to realize that Cordy had all the protection she needed, in her looks.

"Come this way," she shouted, struggling to be heard over the symphony called Connor. She led the man to Angel's old office, and Wesley's current one, Gunn followed closely behind. He closed the door, and she sighed, Connor's screaming could hardly be heard from here.

"So our fees are all written on this piece of paper," she took it out from her pocket where she always had it handy. "Oh there's a misprint there, where it says normal jobs. Yeah, instead of $300, it's actually $3000." Gunn opened his mouth and Cordy quickly stepped on his foot, silencing him. This guy was definitely loaded; there was no denying that, he could afford to lose a few thousand.

"So what job do you want done, note that things dealing with higher beings are more expensive," you always had to point out the increase on price, otherwise sometimes people could overlook it.

The man smiled at her, "Actually," he said, handing the piece of paper back to her, "I didn't want a job for me, it's for my…." He grimaced slightly, "Father," he finished.

"Oh," Cordelia's smile lessened slightly, she wondered what exciting case this was going to be, the attack of the crazy old man's imagination.

"Yes….well…this must sound like a very silly question, but, do you deal with vampires?" the man asked her, leaning in more closely, his eyes crinkled with a small smile.

"I suppose _we_ might," Gunn said, stepping forward a bit, he paid special attention to the 'we'.

He stood his ground, Cordelia had to give him that, Gunn wasn't an easy person to stare down. He turned his full attention to Gunn, and they both stood like that for a while, testing each other, Cordelia personally found it a waste of time. Finally Gunn nodded and held out his hand.

"Gunn," he sad, "Charles, Gunn."

"Howard," the client nodded and smiled, "I don't really have a last name, well one that's not embarrassing, so I think I'll leave it at that." He took Gunn's hand and they shook.

"I've heard about you," Howard finally said as they broke apart, "You have quite a reputation on the street, it's nice to know someone knows what he's doing." Gunn's smile became a little wider. He turned back to Cordelia, but addressed them both, "What I said earlier was not at all a snub to you're establishment; I just meant that many people would feel that vampires were too small to be of concern."

"No job is too small or big for us," Cordelia said, smiling, she wasn't surprised that this man knew about what went bump in the night, not everyone was clueless, and he certainly didn't seem to be.

"Yes well," the man looked around, a small frown on his face, "Actually on the card it says Angel Investigations, is that purely symbolic…or…."

"Angel's currently out, but actually I am the man who is in charge here." Wesley said, coming in from the lobby, were Connor had swapped wailing to suck on his bottle. Fred sat on the couch feeding him.

Howard nodded as Wesley introduced himself, but his eyes kept on flickering to Cordy, a fact she didn't miss. Wesley frowned for a moment as he inspected him, as if puzzled, then rubbed his head and went on.

"So what brings you here," Wesley asked, taking charge of the conversation.

"As I was saying, this case actually concerns my father, and vampires," Howard said.

"Your father has been turned?" Wesley asked quickly. "Do not be concerned about certain information Mr….uh… Howard, we obtain a high amount of secrets here and not one of them has been released. Not even a hint of blackmail…not that it ever crosses our mind….of course we aren't perfect and we do live on money like every human being…." Wesley seemed to run out of things to say, and there was an awkward silence.

"No, actually my fathers being annoyed." Howard finally broke it, "He's a business man and…well one of his clients won at a poker game, it appears that the vampire he was playing refused to pay up though, and is threatening my fathers client. It's quite inconvenient, not to mention highly dangerous. My father's a bit busy at the moment so I said I'd handle it. I work in a completely different department, and hearing about you through some friends, so I thought this agency would be the perfect thing."

"Do you have a description of the vampire?" Wesley asked, taking out a pen and paper from his drawer.

"Yes," Howard said, reaching into his pocket and taking out a grubby piece of paper, "English, male, about 5 foot, bleached hair, he wears a leather jacket and has a cockney accent. He's also apparently a heavy drinker and quite loose with the profanities." He smiled again, "This particular client is particularly old fashioned in his thinking. I once said darn when I was younger, and he gave me an hour long lecture, so you can probably discard that last thought."

"Oh no, I think we know this particular vampire quite well," Wesley said faintly as Howard looked up at them all curiously.

"Are we on the same page here?" Gunn asked, looking at Cordelia and Wesley. "'Cuase I've never heard of this vamp."

"We'll fill you in later," Wesley whispered to him, hoping Howard wouldn't hear.

"Well thank you for you're time Mr. Howard," Wesley said, clearing his throat, "We shall get back to you with in a few days, rest assured, we will get onto this."

Howard nodded and gave a small half smile, "Actually I have a few photographs at my house which could be helpful, it slipped my mind to bring them, but I could go get them now if you want?"

"That will be completely…" Wesley began.

"Necessary," Cordelia ended his sentence brightly, "And how about I come with you, it will save a lot of time wasting." She grabbed Howard's arm, he smiled at her.

"Cordelia," Wesley practically hissed, looking with some concern at Howard, "We already suspect who this vampire could be, there's no need…"

"But what if what we suspect is wrong?" Cordelia pointed out, "It's better to double check."

"Will someone please tell me who you suspect?" Gunn asked, annoyed.

"Don't worry Wes," Cordelia said, practically dragging Howard out into the lobby and towards the door, "I have my cell phone if there are any updates." She picked up her purse which was next to Fred, then kissed a sleeping Connor, "See you sweetie," she whispered, and was out the door before they realized anything.

"Do you want us to go follow her?" Fred whispered, getting up as carefully as she could and putting Connor in his cot.

Wesley held his head, "One things for certain, she certainly needs an eye kept on her, but I'm not sure if Angel will need the cavalry, if we all leave then he'll have no one to help him, anyway there's Connor too."

"You better decide quickly," Gunn said, standing near the door and looking out, "Before he drives away in that fancy limo."

"Limo," Wesley exclaimed, surprised.

"Didn't see that coming either," Gunn said.

"Fine," Wesley finally snapped, "You and Fred tail him, I'll stay here, there's something I have to deal with anyway."

**Thanks to flamingfox5150 for reviewing, I really appreciate it and all you have to do for me……..hmmmmmmmm let me think about it (nah I'm joking, I love this story too). Amway I hope you keep on reading, and thanks a heap for saving this story. : p**

**Sairra : p**


	15. Definition Okay

**Definition Okay**

They fell, down… down…. down. The wind roared by, filling their ears, their vision, making a vortex around them. The ground rushed up to them, and then they hit. Ricko rolled off Angel, some ribs felt like they were broken, but otherwise he was alive surprisingly. Ricko was coughing beside him, wheezing, he was deathly pale.

Angel quickly pulled himself up, his spinning head told him this wasn't the best thing he could have done, but he ignored it and the screaming pain in his ribs. "Are you okay?" he asked, Ricko looked like he wasn't getting enough air, he was turning red, gasping. Angel was alarmed, what was he supposed to do. "It's okay," he said, grabbing Rikco by the shoulder, "It's okay, were okay, were on the ground."

Ricko's eyes were wide with fear; Angel grabbed his face and forced him to look at him in the eye.

"It's okay," Angel kept on whispering over and over, watching him closely as his breathing became less frantic, began to form back into a rhythm.

Then suddenly Ricko was looking wide eyed at Angel, no…. behind him. Angel looked over his shoulder. The creature stood at the edge of the building, and then suddenly roaring it launched itself off the building. It fell twisting and turning, all Angel could do for a whole minute was watch it, wide eyed, mouth open, as the thing twisted in the air, its roar still ringing in his ears.

Then it suddenly hit, a crunch, a sound of pain. Its hairy, scaly body was a few meters away from them, just lying there so still. Angel gave a sigh of relief, he felt Ricko's shoulders slump slightly beside him; the boys breath still coming in gasps. Then suddenly the things head slowly rose from the ground, it blinked slowly, as if trying to focus. Its gaze met Ricko's and the moment stretched on for what seemed like forever, and then the creature roared again.

The spell was broken, Angel picked up Ricko as if he was a rag doll, adrenaline rushing through him, blocking the pain for the moment. He looked around, the stage was a few meters away, one of the few parts of the building which had remained intact including it's surrounding, creating shadows over the blackened stage, which just looked like a misplaced step among a ruin… he ran. It was only a few meters away but it seemed so far, he stumbled over debris, cut his leg, only just managed to stay on his feet. Then suddenly the creatures breathe was on his back, he stumbled again over a broken headlight, the creature hit him from behind. Angel skidded, dust coming up in a cloud, he lost his grip on Ricko as the creature twisted on top of him, thrashing. They hit a rotting table, stopping there momentum, Angel punched up at the creature; it quickly scrambled away from him, but not in pain. Its eyes were on the prize, Ricko, who lay a little away from them, looking up at it.

"The stage," Angel said slowly and quietly to Ricko, keeping his eye warily on the motionless creature, which just had its predators gazed, locked on Ricko. "When I say go, move towards the stage."

Ricko gaze was locked on the creature, but he nodded slowly, his breath was ragged, coming in short gasps, he was still wheezing, his chest moving up and down with effort.

The creature sniffed the air, cocked its head, its gaze still locked on Ricko. It opened its jaw, all its sharp metal teeth showing, and then it moved forward….Angel pounced.

"NOW," he yelled, Ricko scrambled up, headed those few meters for the stage, for safety. Angel held on to the creature for dear life, it bucked furiously, roaring, trying to tear at Angel but inadvertently also tearing flesh from it's back. Angel noticed as he was being thrashed around, that under the flesh there was just metal and wires, sparking. But there was also something else, a small vile, which resembled a test tube was soldered into the metal, it contained blood. The creature roared again and gave one mighty heave; Angel flew off it, hitting one of the broken walls which crumbled at the force of his momentum. Angel quickly got up, Ricko was close to the stage, only one meter away, and Angel ran towards him, Ricko was going to make it, he'd be fine. Then the creature extended itself, stretched as far as it could, reached for the prize, its jaws snapped around Ricko's leg, he gave out a scream of pain. There was blood, Ricko fell and landed hard on the stage, Angel felt the sun burning down, his skin sizzled. There was a sudden flash, the creature was thrown backwards, its jaw slack, the prize slipped through, it was smoking slightly. Angel didn't really notice that, all he could feel was the burning; he dived for the stage… he fell into the cool shadows and rolled, putting out the small fire that had started. He was singed, but he was alive.

He quickly leaned over Ricko, well his upper torso which was in the shade. He dragged him back, Ricko hissed with the pain, he was barely conscious and tears fell unchecked down his cheeks. Angel looked down at the scraped and bleeding leg; in some places he could almost see the bone. Ricko looked up at him; his breathing was as labored as before, he was wheezing. "It's okay, you said," his voice came out as a hoarse rasp; he attempted a weak smile, his eyes rolling in his head, "Were okay, you said." He gave a small snort, "Dictionary definition okay."

"Yeah," Angel said, grinning and looking over at the smoking creature lying still, a few meters away. It wasn't getting up this time, Angel was sure of it. "I was right though, we _are _okay," but Ricko was already passed out. The grin disappeared, Angel grabbed his cell phone and rang the office, Ricko needed to get to a hospital, there was too much blood and his breathing wasn't right, Angel's small injuries were already beginning to heal, but Ricko's weren't. Angel was finding himself wondering why it didn't just happen like it had so many times before, why didn't the cuts heal like Angel's were doing right now, then he shook his head, Ricko had never been a vampire, had never healed like that, there had never been any_ before_, but he still couldn't shake that feeling. Angel began tearing his coat into a makeshift tourniquet, ignoring this weird feeling that he was missing something, listening as it rang on the other side, "He's going to be okay," he muttered, as he looked at the kid laying there, crumpled and pale, as his thoughts tried to cast back to memories that weren't there, and he thought of his own little baby sleeping in his crib on the other side of the phone. "He's going be okay."

Wesley landed up, helped pull Ricko into the car and Angel managed to get in with his jacket up. The windows were tinted; Wesley said it was a friend's car. As they drove to the hospital, Connor started pulling Ricko's hair, his eyes wide.

"Why couldn't we have called the ambulance though?" Wesley asked curiously. "I don't think he's in the best shape," he glanced back at the pale and still bleeding Ricko, he hadn't woken up.

"He'll make it," Angel said, "But we couldn't call an ambulance, first of all that would be the first thing that… agency or whatever they're called will be looking for, secondly it will look a bit suspicious that we were in an abandoned lot, I was the only person around and Ricko's leg was almost ripped off."

"True," Wesley said, "But what happened to the creature? Is it dead?"

Angel shook his head, "It was really weird actually," he said, "It woke up just before you came, got up, it looked at us, sniffed the air, and suddenly headed towards the building. It just completely ignored us."

"Maybe it was being called somewhere," Wesley suggested, going through a red light and doing what would be called reckless driving.

Angel looked at Ricko, extremely worried, his brow furrowed. "Maybe," he muttered, not really listening. There was a moment of silence, "Wes can a person run out of magic?" Angel asked, still frowning, "I mean not run out, but can they be drained."

"Natural magic which comes from a person can be drained, yes," Wesley said, "It could almost be said that the magic dries up, but with rest it is replenished, just like health."

Angel nodded, "I thought so," he said, "I think that's why it didn't pay attention to us, because it tracks his magic, and when you've drained yourself there's nothing to track, well nothing which would show up on its radar, but I wonder why it ran off with such purpose, as if it was still hunting."

Wesley gave a small shrug as they roared into the hospital car park; Angel quickly scooped up Ricko and ran to the emergency entrance, letting Wesley deal with Connor.

Ricko muttered something and moaned his eyes closed, "Please don't," he was muttering over and over again, weakly struggling, Angel frowned.

"It's okay," he said comfortingly as they went through the doors, "It's okay."

By the time the doctor came to see Angel and Wes it was dark…. dusk, almost night. They hadn't been able to get in contact with the others, Cordelia's battery had gone out, and Gunn had presumably left his cell phone at the hotel.

"He's going to be fine for the time being," the doctor said, "He just won't be able to put pressure on the leg for a while, we'll have to observe him though because were not really sure about future damage, some people are fine and some still experience pain after these things. Some people can even lose feeling in the leg, but I doubt that will happen to him, he's young, he'll survive. It's really horrible, though, this animal trap, no one ever thinks about what could happen if they snap on a kid."

Wesley nodded grimly, there cover story had been simple, they had been hunting and Ricko (or Ryan as they had called him) had stepped on a hidden animal trap, through his efforts to get it off it had caused further damage until Angel had seen what had happened. They couldn't call an ambulance because they were out of range, so they had driven all the way.

Angel just slumped, grateful, cradling Connor in his arms. "How long do you think he'll need to stay here?" Angel asked.

"Probably a few weeks," the doctor said.

"He was having difficulty breathing," Angel said, "He was wheezing really heavily."

"He was probably just in shock," the doctor said, "But I'll check his file and if I think there's anything wrong I'll follow through."

"Thank you doctor," Wesley said his grim front still on.

The doctor turned to leave and then turned around again, "I almost forgot, what relation are you to him? For legal reasons you know."

"His..." Wesley opened his mouth to say.

"His brother," Angel quickly said, "I'm his brother and this is my friend. We don't have any parents…. you know."

The man nodded sympathetically, then shoved the form under Angel's nose and got his signature, then he was gone, a lot faster then it had taken him to come.

Connor gave a small yawn, his eyes closed, Angel returned with a yawn of his own.

"I think you better take Connor home," Angel suggested, "I'll stay here and hold the fort."

Wesley nodded; his eyes had been drooping for some time. Angel saw them off to the door.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Wesley said, his eyes widening, "We have a new client, a man named Howard, nothing we can't handle though. Just a… vampire problem, I have Gunn and Fred on the case… and Cordelia is quiet… interested too."

Angel nodded, not really understanding what Wesley was saying, all he really heard was client. They left and Angel watched the car drive out of the car park, he leant his head against the glass standing there for a while, then he went to get some coffee, it would help him stay awake.

"_Ricko was livid at Liam; he had gone and fallen asleep. Hadn't they been planning this forever? Ricko was too nervous to keep throwing pebbles at Liam's window; Liam's Da' was almost as bad as his own, if not worse, so instead Ricko began to climb the old oak tree next to Liam's window. Ricko was excellent on his feet; he loved climbing, so it wasn't so hard to get up there and he had no problem with heights. Ricko had learnt at an early age how to open a window silently, how to sneak around someone's house, he had to if he ever wanted any food. It wasn't any difficulty at all to open Liam's window, he had done it millions of times. The stupid idiot was sleeping; his big form spread across his bed, the room was pitch black. He had fallen asleep in his clothes, obviously he hadn't been able to withstand the few hours Ricko had taken to get there. Ricko rolled his eyes, it seemed the older you got the stupider you got. Liam was muttering in his sleep quietly, tossing and turning. Ricko felt under the bed, an old bottle of whisky was there, it was empty. Ricko rolled his eyes again; obviously Liam couldn't wait to share the drink either. Ricko shook Liam hard; when that didn't get Liam's attention he hit him over the head. _

"_Wa'," Liam said stupidly, sitting up and blinking slowly, looking around like and idiot. _

"_Ye passed out, ye slugged," Ricko said, abusing him in some colourful language, of course it was all in a whisper. "Yere a real gitt ye know tat, and ye' drank all the whisky." _

_Liam grinned at him, something he had learnt from Ricko. "Twas fine whisky and a poor man can't just ignore that." _

_Liam got up and his grin became wider, "So are we still plannin' te sneak to the tavern?" _

"_I dunno if I want to now Angelus," Ricko hissed, scowling, "Seeing as ye are already drunk. For the' six n' ten years ye have been alive, you d'no have a lot to show for ye." _

" _Well for the three n' ten years yee have been alive ye d' not have a lot to show for ye either, Rome," Liam retorted, still grinning. _

_Ricko grinned back at him, and poked his tongue out. "C'mon brother, better be getting' on don't we, or the tavern will be closin'."_

"_Never," Liam said, but he moved towards the window and slipped out, they had been doing that too many times to count, having night adventures, but they had never tried to get into the tavern before, if either of their father's ever found out they would be worse then dead. _

"_Do ye' think we should ask Ella to come along?" Ricko asked. _

"_I suppose," Liam whispered back up to him. "But it'll take too long to wake her. We'll call her the next time we go." _

_Ricko just had his leg out of the window when there were loud footsteps and the door swung open. _

"_Liam what are ye doin' now?" came Liam's Da's voice, then the candle flickered over Ricko's shocked face. _

"_Rome ye' comin' down?" Liam's whisper traveled up to the window. _

"_Oy ye brigand, ye little thief," Liam's Da roared, his face was red, "Ye come hear ye hear me. Why yere both gettin' such a hidin'."_

_Ricko didn't hang around to hear the rest, he quickly slipped onto the branch, the roaring of Liam's Da following him, Liam was swearing profusely. Liam's Da' reached out of the window, grabbed Ricko by his ratty lapels, he tried dragging a struggling Ricko back into the house._

"_Let him go da' he'll fall," Liam's panicked voice called. _

"_Ye shut yere mouth and come back inside boy," his Da' roared, "Ye just wait till I get me hands into ye, ye won't have any hide left."_

"_Let me alone mister," Ricko roared, "Ye rogue." _

"_Let him go Da'" Liam yelled again, Ricko gave a hard wrench and suddenly his coat ripped, he lurched over the branch and saw the dark ground come up to hit him, he screamed as a branch caught him on the leg, there was a crack, he hung there for a few seconds. He looked down at the dark ground and fear flooded him, he was so high up, he had never experienced fear like this of something he used to look down at every day. Then there was an almighty crack, louder then Ricko's leg, as the branch broke, unable to take his weight. Ricko fell, this time he hit the ground with a large thump, all he could feel was his leg, and the pain was terrible, he cried out. _

"_ROME," he heard Liam yell and his pounding feet as he ran towards him, but by that time everything turned dark…" _

Ricko woke up, gasping, he was sweating, he had been having a dream his leg was hurting badly, that's all he could remember from it, that and the height. He felt scared, him and his friend… so close they considered themselves brothers, were going to get into such trouble, and all the while his leg was throbbing. He also knew he was called something different, he felt like it was natural, a name which fit him perfectly even better then Ricko, and yet he couldn't remember it. Ricko shook his head and frowned, his name was Ricko and that was all there was to it, he had never had any friends so close that he would call them brother and… he looked down at his leg, the pain was real enough. It was bandaged tightly in white linen, and it was killing him, Ricko looked up at the roof, it was white and paneled, he was in a hospital, he thought Angel must have taken him there. He looked over to the side of him, there was a morphine drip, threading its way all the way to his hand, they mustn't have given him a high enough dose, it didn't matter he'd just catch his breathe rest a little more and he'd fix the leg… Ricko's eyes suddenly focused properly, behind the drip stood Sir Nathaniel.

Ricko sat up quickly, that wasn't such a good idea, his head began to spin and he thought he may have come very close to ripping a few stitches in his leg.

"Now, now," Sir Nathaniel said, his cold crisp voice spreading dread through Ricko, his mouth curling up on one side into a cruel smirk, his grey eyes bored into Ricko. "No need to sit up because of me, we don't want you to hurt yourself any more then you have, now do we?"

Ricko was shaking, he felt cold seep into him, he remembered the last time he had seen this man. He said nothing though, maybe it was the fear that kept his mouth shut, maybe it was common sense or maybe it was his indecision on whether he dared to hate this man too. Anyone else Ricko could deal with, _had _dealed with since then, even this man's son, but him… Sir Nathaniel... he was evil… what made him so horrible though, so incomprehensible was that he had a soul.

Ricko scrambled away from him, as far away as he could get anyway on a hospital bed with a paining leg. The aged gentleman sat on the hospital chair. There was a line of pristine beds in a row on each side of the room, a few framed pictures; the curtains were drawn revealing the night. Ricko was in a ward, but all the other patients in the room were sleeping, none of them had visitors at this hour, so Ricko was alone. He sat there and looked just as he had before, portly in a fashionable tailored business suit, and shining shoes. His grey streaked hair was exactly the same, his cruel eyes and his handsome features, right down to the small white scar across his eyelid.

"What do you want?" Ricko demanded more then asked, his voice was hoarse, it felt like he was swallowing nails.

"Just to talk," he said smiling; his eyes seemed to glow, "Just to talk…"

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Hope you like : p**

**Sairra**


	16. Meetings

**Meetings**

Angel jerked awake; he had been having the strangest dream, something from his childhood, something which left a feeling of fear right down to his bones. He quickly got up and looked at the time, it was a little after midnight, he cursed, he had fallen asleep.

"You're finally sodding well awake," a heavily thickened British accent traveled to Angel's fuzzy ears. He swiveled around and there stood his least favourite person. Angel took a threatening step towards him, on the edge of his vampire face. To show he wasn't a complete idiot there was a flicker of fear in his eyes, then it was hidden again and he blew a ring of smoke Angel's way.

"Don't get into a tizzy there mate," he said quickly, "I was just popping in, Slayers orders, didn't expect to get attacked though."

"You'll get more then that if you don't get out of here, Willy," Angel snapped angrily to the bleached vampire, his heavy leather jacket hanging loosely.

"Oy, I told you Slayers orders, or Watchers more precisely, if you want to check just ring and he'll tell you. Sodding Giles, if I didn't have this chip I would…" he stopped as he saw Angel's face.

"What do they want?" Angel asked calmly, he grabbed Spikes cigarette and trod on it in one smooth motion. "This is a hospital not a bar," he said at Spikes look.

"Time was you could appreciate a good smoke," Spike snarled.

"Smoking is old news Spike, its all fast cars and spiked hair, smoking is for idiots," Angel replied, "Now what do they want?"

"I think you're more interested in what the Slayer wants," Spike said grinning, "But it ain't got nothing to do with the Slayer, like I said before. G-man wants to know about the new kid on the block, the one with all the power, the free lancer. Of course if he had asked I would have told him to never mess with free lancers, but that's just my opinion I suppose. He didn't want me to tell you anything about the little mission, but I got bored waiting."

"You mean you're in trouble and have to get out of town fast," Angel said, raising his eyebrows.

"Something like that," Spike shrugged, "Doesn't matter really does it, a tit for a tat was what used to say right."

Angel sighed heavily and shook his head, "Look this has got nothing to do with Sunnydale, I'm dealing with it, the kid isn't dangerous, he isn't evil and tell Giles he isn't any of his business or his responsibility, you got all that."

"Wait while I just get a pad and paper drama queen," Spike said, pretending to rummage through his pockets.

"Shut up Spike," Angel snapped, but he wasn't in the mood. "You can go now."

"Hey don't look so accusing, wasn't even Giles that found out about it, one of your own rang him." Spike snapped, "Okay, maybe he didn't ask for us to check up, but it's like an open invitation innit. You find out about a big power you wanna' go see it don't you."

Angel looked grim, "Wesley," he muttered stonily, his eyes turned hard.

"Didn't know about that, did you," Spike asked, realization dawning on him, and with it spread a smirk. "Oh there's unrest among the gits."

"You should really watch your city you know," Spike finally said, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean," Angel asked, coming out of his reverie.

"I've been bleeding hounded by these lawyers, ever since I won at a game of poker and asked for my money, nicely of course. Apparently there client thought I was too threatening or something, the bleeding ponce said his hounds after me. Hasn't even paid up. Been hunting me ever since, I tell you I'm on the edge of trying to kill them, they're lawyers after all how human can they be."

Angel smiled grimly, "You've had your cross in with our local law firm, you better get out of town fast Spike, because the chances are against you."

Spike snorted but Angel noticed he wasn't looking too good, there were shadows under his eyes, it must have been one big client, or it was just Wolfram and Harts usual efficiency. Angel wasn't sure what he would prefer, a dead Spike, or a happy Wolfram and Hart, he supposed Spike wasn't that bad…

"So what are you doing at the hospital?" Spike asked, "Your joints giving you pain old man?"

…. then again. Angel actually didn't know what to say, he had just said it was none of Giles business about what happened to Ricko, and yet Ricko was in hospital with injuries which Angel should have prevented. "Ricko, the kid… the free lancers hurt," Angel said.

Spike stood there contemplating that for a moment, Angel waited for that snide remark but it didn't come.

"He's in that ward isn't he?" Spike finally asked, nodding his head to the door across the hall. Angel nodded, "Why aren't you sitting in there, keeping an eye out?' Spike asked.

Angel swelled up indignantly, "Don't you think I'd be in there if I could," he snapped, "No visitors are allowed, he's just had a bad ordeal."

"Then why did that guy get to go in?" Spike asked, Angel turned around, no one was there.

"What guy?" Angel snapped angrily, thinking Spike was pulling his leg, "Stop being an idiot."

"Fine then you git," Spike growled, insulted, "Stuff that! I just thought you ought to know there was an old gent that just waltzed in there a while back while you were snoozing. Real as can be, flirting with the nurses and the like, he was an old git, just like you."

Angel knew Spike wasn't lying, he knew Spike as well as he knew all his closest friends, although Spike couldn't exactly qualify as friend material. Angel's face fell, he was such an idiot, how could he have fallen asleep. He quickly ran to that ward door, hoping that Ricko would be okay, would still be there… would still be alive.

"Oy what's the rush?" Spike called behind him, Angel didn't bother to answer. Spike shrugged his shoulders, swore and followed Angel. He didn't like helping the ponce, but if there was going to be a fight, he wanted to be apart of the rumble, maybe even get a few 'accident' punches at the git, anything to tick him off. They burst through the ward doors one after the other, both ready for a fight.

**Hope you liked, I updated twice, lol. Thought I'd leave you with a cliffhanger, I'm mean lol. **

**: p Sairra**


	17. Fear

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

**FEAR**

Ricko stared at the wall after he left, he just lay there thinking…no that wasn't right he wasn't thinking as such, he was just….staring at nothing…he was… Ricko didn't know anymore, he felt like he should be panicking somewhere dimly in his mind, like he should be pushing the covers over, pushing his magic through his leg to fix like he always did, he always ran. The fear was there, no mistake, but it was disguised by something else, shock, indifference, the fact was just as the man had pointed out where could Ricko run, there really was no point, because if they caught him…no, that wasn't right either…_when_ they caught him, there was no escaping he'd be dead in a second and they….they'd have it the power, the power Ricko didn't really want, but kept because he couldn't….he couldn't let it happen to someone else because he knew… he knew what it could do to someone else. Ricko lay there, tried to think, but nothing really was happening, because he didn't know where to go and what to do this time, he didn't have any idea, any thought, even a bit of hope and the fear and the panic like a violent beast were rising up to choke him. They knew, Ricko shouldn't have let them help him, and know he knew and he was going to do something, hurt them…destroy them and Ricko didn't even know why, why it had to be him.

Someone came bursting through the door, Ricko jumped, startled out of his reverie. Angel stood at the doorway a blonde man looking from behind him, his long leather jacket making him look a bit like a punk rocker. Ricko frowned, a glimmer of recognition seemed to pass through him, this man where had he known him, it was at the tip of his tongue and he was about to say the name when it was gone as quickly as it had come and the door was slammed shut firmly in his face once more, the secrets laying behind it, just out of reach, just like the name which fit him so perfectly.

Ricko frowned and shook his head to clear it, some of the children had risen from the sound of the door, and others were slumbering, probably in a drug induced sleep. The children looked at the two men, their eyes wide, frightened. Angel's eyes swept the room, they fell on Ricko and in a few strides he was at his bed side, looking around, tensed and posed for battle. The bleached man followed behind at his own leisurely pace, as he got closer Ricko could tell he was not a man, but another vampire, it did not surprise him.

"Who came in here?" Angel asked, commanding, Ricko shrugged.

"No one," he said, keeping his voice even, he didn't bother to feign surprise.

"I can smell it…him," Angel said, frowning, one of the children began to cough; he turned to them and then quickly lent closer lowering his voice. "Was it one of them?" he asked looking into Rocko's eyes, trying to guess his thoughts.

It was an impossible thing to do for anyone; Angel couldn't smell fear or anything really on Ricko, his magic protected him from creatures and human's alike realizing his thoughts. Beside a bit of jasmine and something else, like the odor of a wolf Ricko had no other sent.

The jasmine turned Angel's mind to that time in the garden, when Darla had picked a flower, when she'd been so vulnerable, a human something he wanted so much and she didn't want at all.

"Jasmine's my favorite," she had said, and he'd known that, that was why they grew in such abundance in the garden. Jasmine to keep a little bit of her close, whenever he'd smelt them he'd thought of her, and it was like she was there, with no evils or wrongs…just her….

"This is it…." Spike suddenly piped up, breaking Angel's thoughts, standing at the bottom of the bed and looking at Ricko unimpressed; he didn't attempt to keep his voice down at all. "This is the blooming freelancer I had to waste my time worrying bout."

"Who's he?" Ricko asked, he was looking at Spike with his brows furrowed.

"Nobody," Angel growled to Ricko under his breathe, annoyed at Spike's interruption and his own wandering of thought.

"Git," Spike said, not bothering to keep his own voice down, he dug into his pockets, pulling out a cigarette and patted them trying to find a lighter.

"What do you mean that's it?" Ricko persisted, turning to Spike his voice slightly offensive, Spike ignored Angel's glowering look as he continued to search for his elusive lighter.

"Well I was expecting something a bit more…." Spike didn't finish his sentence as suddenly Ricko lent forward ignoring the pain in his leg and offered him a flaming hand.

"Here you go," he said quietly.

"Any warlock can do that," he growled grumpily but he took the light anyway, though begrudgingly.

"It's a hospital," Angel protested but he did not seem to be heard by either of them, before Spike had lit the cigarette though he straightened. He lifted his head as if an animal recognizing a scent which made him wary as well as ready completely forgetting his cigarette which fell to the floor. He sniffed then looked around, moving towards a chair he stared.

"Git, come over here," he said, Angel hesitated but curiosity won out and he moved to Spike's side.

"Can you smell that?" Spike asked, his brows furrowed.

"Wolfram and Hart," Angel said tensing immediately. "Was it one of them, threatening you again?" he turned to Ricko sharply.

Ricko didn't look at him, he didn't say anything.

"This isn't…it isn't normal," frowned Spike, "It's a different scent, human….but different….smells a bit like the fellow that's been chasing me….should have known the old fogy was one of those blooming lawyer types…would have given him what's coming to him if I'd known…."

Ricko looked up sharply, Angel noticed he was paler but not from lack of blood, and he looked afraid, as he'd done back in the hotel just before their flight and leap.

"Ricko you have to tell me who he is," Angel said, talking to him directly ignoring Spike who was rambling pleasantly to himself about all the things he would do. "Why's he so terrible?"

Ricko looked up at him and had the sudden intense feeling to tell someone, the panic rose in him once more, and he needed someone to just tell him what to do. Despite all he tried to be and all he was he was still only a child.

"There are two of them, the son, Howard, and his father….he's the worst," he said quietly, he dropped his gaze, looking down at his clenched hands.

"Oh a family business, I'm so scared," Spike said sarcastically they both ignored him as if well practiced.

"He….he's evil and he's got the power to make him something….more…. I don't know what he is really, but he….he did something terrible he….he killed…" with that Ricko stopped, not wishing to go further he abandoned that train of thought and turned to another, his mind shutting it out.

"Hello and who hasn't in this room," Spike said cruelly, Angel dropped his gaze for a moment but Ricko also seemed to shudder, Spike didn't notice this though, another cigarette in his hand, searching for a lighter once more.

"He's who I've been running from…." Ricko continued, trying to keep the silence from enveloping them, "He…he won't just take my power and kill me….I don't know what he wants but….he's evil….and he knows…he knows about you guys, all of you. He told me he wanted to talk….he said he had something else he was concentrating on…a girl… but it would only take a little while…then he said he was going to come back….for me…. "

"His name?" Angel asked not revealing any of the thoughts running through his mind.

"Nathaniel," Ricko whispered, "He calls himself Sir, and his son, his names Howard."

Angel's eyes widened… Howard… he recalled Wesley's weary face a few hours ago as he left to go back to the hotel. He had mentioned a new client….one in which Cordelia had taken an interest…Howard….

"Cordelia," it escaped his lips, the fear enveloping him before his thoughts could catch up.

"What's she got to do with anything," Spike queried obnoxiously.

Cordelia inspected herself in the mirror hanging in the apartment, it was a beautiful place, everything in it was at least in the hundred range if not more, even his carpet was perfect, not a spec of dust or dirt to be seen. It was almost unlived in. She settled her hair and then looked around once more, sighing heavily; she would have never been able to afford the stereo he had even when she was rich.

She walked over to the mantle, framed photographs shining and bright sat there, all on display telling of a glamorous life. She gasped as she inspected the faces in them closer and recognized some of them. They were all mostly famous people, actors, directors, singers, producers, you named it and they were there, and Howard was with them, standing next to them to be precise. Smiling at the camera, at what looked like expensive and elite parties. She bet that some of them she didn't recognize were if not famous extremely rich. Cordelia hadn't been wealthy in a long time….well not in the material way, but she knew how to recognize it in others, and all these people screamed filthy rich.

After assessing this Cordelia quickly scanned each photograph, there were quite a few with women in them, but none of them seemed extremely intimate, a casual hand here, a look there, nothing serious though or speaking of a relationship, there were no repeating faces. Bingo, she thought, smiling to her self, this man was hot, single, and rich and best of all alone in his apartment with her, what more could a girl ask for, she hummed happily to herself as she moved back to the mirror and checked her hair.

**Hope this is okay, I haven't updated in ages, I really better start my assignment gulp (lol) Sorry I haven't updated, I lost a bit of my inspiration and interest, but here's the chapter love it, hate it, I don't mind just please review it…pleeeeeeeeassssssssssssseeeeeeee.**

**From Sairra : p**


	18. Cavalry

**CAVALRY**

"Do you want some blood?"

"Excuse me?" asked Cordelia turning to Howard quickly.

"Blood Red," he said holding up a wine bottle as way of explanation. "The things they call these things hey."

And again with the smiling, Cordelia thought, her knees going weak, maybe also partly due to the golden cork screw he used to pop the top of the oddly named wine bottle.

"So…" she said, "I see you've been to a lot of great parties," 'Lame' she remonstrated herself.

"Yeah," he said absently glancing at the pictures then quickly looking back at her as if he couldn't take his eyes off her, "I have." He moved closer, pressing the wine glass he filled into her hand. 'God his eyes are beautiful' Cordelia thought, barely gripping the cool glass.

There was a thump and they both jumped and parted.

"What was that?" Cordelia asked, really she was thinking if it was Spike she was going to stake him so fast he would be dust before he could disintegrate.

"Oh, it's um just my dog," Howard said, smiling ruefully and running his hand through his hair, "You know cooped up all day he gets a bit restless. So I suppose I should be showing you those photos right?"

"Right," sighed Cordelia as he moved into another room, leaving her standing with a wine glass and a disappointed feeling. It wasn't like she was going to give up everything on the first unofficial date, she had learnt her lesson before, but a kiss would have been nice.

There was a knock on the door, Cordelia hesitated then shrugged, maybe if she indicated that Howard was busy to the visitor he and her could actually get to some business. She flung open the door to be met with an old man, who if not handsome, was rather amiable to say the least.

"Why hello there," he said smiling at her, a smile which showed all his teeth. "Is Howard in? I'm his father."

Cordelia gave a nervous smile back, great now they were never going to get any business done, such as securing an invitation to a private party for herself.

"Oh hi," she said brightly, extending her hand, "I'm Cordelia Chase from Angel Investigations, your sons hired me and my team to track down that nasty vampire problem of yours."

"Oh how delightful," he said, taking her hand he placed a kiss on it just like Howard. Now she knew where he got the charm from. "If I had known he was going to hire such a fine lady I would have gone myself. I hope Howard isn't being a naughty boy? Sometimes he over reaches himself. I hope I'm not interrupting you two?"

Cordelia felt rather flustered and confused, but one thing she did know, this guy had to be loaded, that suit he was wearing was definitely Vesachi. Quickly she stepped aside smiling falsely, she knew how to deal with rich people, fawning and a whole lot of it.

"Of course not," she said, "Come in, Howard's just finding a photograph, to help with the investigation."

"Ah, of course the investigation," the man stepped in an odd smile on his face.

"Yes, I'm not sure if I'll really need your assistance with that just now."

"Oh," Cordelia's false smile rapidly vanished from her face with the loss of a customer.

"No, in fact I need help of a different sort," he said smiling at her, "Something I think only you can provide."

"Oh," Cordelia exclaimed, "Oh, well I'm sure Angel can do anything I can, besides tanning but that's not the sort of service you need…"

She found herself backing away from him as he moved closer, her senses on high alert. Working with a vampire for the past few years had shown her what a predatory look was like, and Howard's father appeared to be directing one her way, well it was in his eyes anyway even though he was smiling. Angel was always talking about listening to your senses and right then Cordelia's was screaming.

"Now, now," he chuckled, "No need to run away there."

"Running," Cordelia's voice had suddenly gone high pitched, "No ones running here, I was merely walking backwards to…um…"

Suddenly there was the sound of splintering glass from within and a curse and Howard came racing through the door, an envelope in his hand, his eyes furious. Sparks were trailing on his skin and Cordelia gaped. Why did she always have to fall for the weird ones.

"What are you doing here," he growled at his father.

"Me, son, why I'm just doing some work."

"Get out," Howard gritted his teeth, staring daggers at his father who looked politely bemused.

"Right," said Cordelia, her voice slightly wavering, "I can see you guys need to have a little family meeting so I'll just get out of your hair right." She could barely take a step towards the door when Howard's fathers cold gaze turned to her, forcing her to stop in her tracks literally she couldn't move her legs as if they were stuck to the floor. "Hey," she protested. When she'd agreed to go to a hot rich bachelors apartment she had not signed up for this sort of treatment.

"Leave her be," Howard growled, his muscles tensed, his eyes not leaving his Fathers who turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Really son, I shouldn't think she'd interest you, after all she's not part of our bet, but if you insist?"

Howard suddenly gained composure, straightening he settled his jacket and smiled at his father coolly. "Oh no, I don't really insist, I'm just thinking of all the paper work afterwards, if anything were to happen to her."

"Paper work?" Cordelia mouthed, that sounded a lot like Wolfram and Hart talk.

"Oh, you can't fool me son," his father chuckled, "You hoped to make her your latest conquest."

"Hey," Cordelia snapped, losing some of her fear as the sparks faded from Howard, "I'm nobody's conquest."

"Sure my dear," his father replied patronizing. "But never fear son, maybe you'll get her back in tact, I only wish for her power."

"Power?"

"Yes I'm sure you've sensed it, she's a seer Howard m'boy, and you know how precious they can be."

"Again with this Seer stuff," Cordelia groused, "You know that's not all I can do."

This time they both ignored her. Howard raised his eyebrows, "And you don't think her associate won't have anything to say about this?"

"Oh were counting on it, actually I'm expecting them to arrive soon." He took out an old fashioned pocket watch, checking the time, "I mean after all that's what you do isn't it?" he turned to Cordelia smiling, "Help the helpless? But before your friends and our little boy can get here I think I should be taking something first."

Cordelia stood dumbstruck, attempting desperately to move a limb as he reached his hand towards her, it began to glow with an odd silvery light.

Howard suddenly stood in front of him, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

"Wait Father I think your forgetting one essential fact."

"And what's that?" he asked

"She's in my apartment, I think by rights her powers belong to me and the Agency."

"Excuse me," snapped Cordelia, "I had a name which twenty minutes ago you didn't seem to have trouble using. And still here you know, and I'm not into that whole giving up my powers thing in case you hadn't noticed, I already made the choice to keep them so. Hello are either of you listening…"

"I'm sorry m'dear," Howard's father apologized, "Let me just deal with my foolish son over here and then we'll have a talk."

"Your not going to _dea_l with me!" Howard snapped annoyed. "I'm not a child."

"Well you are certainly acting like one m'boy." His father said patronizing, "You know this case is very important to my brothers, and I promised I'd take care of it for them, so just step aside and let your father do his business."

"No, no stepping aside," Cordelia disagreed adamantly.

"I think you should look at the legal repercussions if you persist Father, there's nothing boyish about them."

"Your proposing taking on me and your Uncles." His father laughed, while Howard looked on stony faced.

"There were rules when you set up this sadistic game father, now I suggest you adhere to them."

"I'm not really one to follow the rules," he said, smiling coolly, "Besides she is not part of this game, she's your Uncles concern."

"No, she is part of a game, the one their playing with the vampire Angel, and what are they going to do for you Father when you do this little favor for them?"

"That's for me to know now isn't it."

"Actually," Gunn's voice came from the door, Fred stood behind him an axe in hand, "I think I'd like to know too.

* * *

"Are you all right?" Angel asked Ricko as he put his foot down on the pedal of a borrowed car, he had the skills to hotwire a car when the need required, and seeing as Cordy was in danger the need was greatly required.

"Does he bloody look all right?" Spike growled as he looked at the 'little git' what he'd begun to think of him as. Ricko's face was as white as a sheet, his leg was up on the seat and Spike was squished between the door and his leg in a decidedly uncomfortable position. His complexion was taking on a rather green tinge as they rounded the curves at break neck speed.

"I'm fine," he gasped. "Are you sure you've got the address right?"

Angel had been loathe to take Ricko along with him, but as he wasn't sure when this Nathaniel character might show up again, or Gavin or Lilah, he thought it was his safest option. He'd called Wesley who had also advised to keep Ricko in his sights, it was a bit late for the orders as they were already piled into a car only needing to know their destination.

"Pretty sure," Angel gripped the wheel tight, hoping they didn't run into any cops, it would be all they needed now. Then he though of something else and swore.

"Hey language in front of the kid," Spike admonished, reveling in being the responsible one for once.

"Those creatures what if they come after us? I can't believe I didn't think of them." He

looked back at Ricko who was in no state to make a wild dash for his life.

'Don't worry," he said, "I took care of them, I used what was left of my magic and sent it to different parts of the sewer, traces of it are all over there, it shouldn't fade for at least a day. It's why I don't have any stores left, to fix my leg."

Angel nodded, relieved and turned back to the road, his full concentration on reaching their destination as quickly as possible.

"Can someone remind me why the bloody hell I'm here," Spike grumbled, glaring at Ricko's offending leg.

"To save Cordelia," Angel pointed out.

"Yeah, well I'll be expecting my paycheck in the mail mate."

"For what?" Angel asked incredulous, "Being annoying."

"No for helping you out with this Cordelia chick."

"Your helping us out so I don't stake you for coming within even a mile of my city."

"No," Spike corrected, "I'm helping you out cause your not exactly going into this battle with all guns a firing. I mean take an inventory mate, two powerful magic wielders or what not, to three pathetic humans, two of em being girls, and one fellow and girl might not even be available for the action. Then you've got yourself, a git and me who despite my vampiric prowess can't exactly fight off magic now can I? And finally you have little Tiny Tim in the back here, who looks like he can hardly help himself from puking let alone stop two powerful sorcerers from using their magic."

"Spike your not helping," Angel growled furiously, "And if you don't shut up I'll"

"You'll what?" Spike challenged.

"Will you two boys just both shut the hell up," snarled Ricko between gritted teeth, they both looked at him shocked.

"Well that's just…odd," said Spike, the first to break the shocked silence.

"What me telling you to shut up?" Ricko enquired, digging his nails into the car door in an attempt to distract himself from the pain in his leg.

"Darla," Angel suddenly said quietly, "She used to say that exact same thing to us…"

"Right," said Spike, "That proves it, there's something odd about you, I can't quite put my finger on it, but you've been giving me the willies."

"Why gee thanks," said Ricko through gritted teeth, "Really makes me feel good."

"Look," said Angel, "We'll talk about that later."

"What, do I give you the willies too," Ricko asked hurt in his voice.

"What, no," Angel protested, "It's just there's something weird about you

"Hey," Ricko protested.

"…I mean not_ about_ you…I mean…" Angel blustered, "Look, lets just all concentrate right now on saving Cordelia okay."

"_You_ can concentrate on that mate," Spike glowered, "I'm still not seeing any incentive in it for me."

"Okay Spike, you help us with this and we help you with your lawyer problem, and if you keep quiet then I might even give you five bucks for being a good dog."

"You big git," Spike growled, "I'll…"

"Can we just concentrate for one minute," Ricko shouted angrily, "Cordelia's in trouble and all you guys can do is argue. We need to focus, Howard's dangerous, he's not just some demons you can just smash and bash and hey presto he's all dead. He's human and he has magic on his side, while it appears all we have is two bitching girls."

They both shut up with this, stunned once more, their mouths agape.  
"You're right," Angel finally sighed, "We should put our differences aside, as hard as that will be, to save Cordelia."

"I'm fine with that mate, though you started the 'bitching'"

"No I didn't," Angel protested.

"Did so"

Ricko sighed as they began once more.

* * *

"Gunn thank God," Cordelia sighed in relief, "Wait a minute what are you guys doing here?"

"Rescuing you," Gunn pointed out.

"Were you following me? I can't believe this…"

"Well I don't really think that's the issue right now Cordelia." Gunn pointed out.

"Oh please," Cordelia rolled her eyes, "Don't try and cover up the fact you were following me with…" she looked at Gunn who was looking pointedly at the two powerful sorcerers in front of her, with raised eyebrows."Oh right okay…but we'll be talking about this later after you whoop their butts."

Suddenly Howard's father laughed, "Oh I see, you propose to rescue the young woman, you and you're little friend behind you," he indicated Fred. "I mean really…well I don't mean to be rude but your not really intimidating me, of course maybe you have something up your sleeve, some trick perhaps? Well before we begin let's make the appropriate introductions, I'm Nathanial, this is my son Howard, and you are?"

"About to so whoop your butts," Gunn growled, lunging with his axe but he was stopped in his tracks, much like Cordelia had been. He couldn't move a muscle; he was guessing Fred couldn't either, he couldn't even speak which was a shame because he had a few choice words he wanted to use on Nathanial and his son.

"Gunn, Fred," Cordelia cried out, "Please tell me Wesley's somewhere doing a magical spell?" She didn't need the desperate look in Gunn's eyes to tell that wasn't the case.

"Really amusing," Nathanial said smiling widely, "Now we've had that little display lets get to business."

He turned back to Cordelia but Howard still stood in his way. "I don't think so," he said.

"Please son," Nathanial rolled his eyes, "I have other things to attend to before they run away again, so I would really appreciate it if you let Daddy do his work, unless you want a fight? You know how the last one ended."

"You cheated," Howard pointed out almost pleasantly.

"Yes and I can do it again," Nathanial replied smiling with all his teeth. "Now you can let me take her power, or we can fight and then I won't be in such a pleasant mood when my attention returns to her, after I win of course. I might lose some control…maybe her gift won't be the only thing I take."

Howard tensed, then suddenly he shrugged and relaxing stepped aside, a neutral look on his face.

"Fine," he said, "You can have her,_ this_ time."

"Good boy," Nathaniel replied.

"Excuse me, have I pointed out that I'm not some piece of meat," Cordelia said, babbling now in panic as Nathanial raised his hand once more, and it began to glow, "I mean can't we all just sit down and talk about this?…"

"Yes why don't we," Angel suddenly said, Spike beside them at the doorway.

"I thought there was supposed to be security on this building," Nathaniel sighed, the glow fading from his hand. "Oh but wait, you brought just what I was looking for."

"Go to hell," Ricko growled from behind Angel.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Angel asked, "You know it's the polite thing to do."

"Oh I would," Nathaniel sighed, "But seeing as it's my sons…"

"Come in," Howard said, Nathaniel looked at him, his expression unreadable while Angel and Spike proceeded to come into the apartment, at the same time, and became stuck at the doorway.

"You idiot," Angel growled as he managed to squeeze in front, quickly bringing his sword up. 'Right," he said settling his jacket, "Now your going to let my friends go or…"

"Or what?" Nathaniel asked smirking as Angel froze, unable to move. "What…what did you?" his voice faded away as he was made unable to speak.

"Well that's an improvement mate, good on you," Spike said, grinning, then Nathaniel turned his gaze to him and he was frozen in spot too. "Hey," he growled, "I complimented you." Then Spike also lost his voice.

Nathaniel ignored him, his gaze on Ricko who now stood leaning against the door frame, pale and panting.

"So this is the cavalry, not much I must say," Nathaniel said conversationally. "And you m'boy, you brought them into this? Into the wolves den, without even a warning."

"They wouldn't listen," Ricko grimaced, "They had to try, to save Cordelia."

"Ah," he said, "Yes, but you knew they couldn't' succeed, you know all I was going to do was take her power. But they did just as I wanted, you did just as I wanted, and now here you are, a cross roads you may call it. Your magic's depleted heavily, you need rest, to recuperate, you can't fight us, not magically, not physically, not mentally, your beaten. They way I view this is that the fates are telling you its time to hang up your sword and come quietly."

"I dunno," Ricko grinned, "I'm thinking die trying is sounding pretty good."

"Ah, your just on time." Ricko whipped his head around to see a man standing behind him, he looked rich and normal, except for his eyes which looked like a snakes. The man, then stepped past Ricko into the room and towards Nathaniel.

"Quite crowded in here isn't it?"

"Yes, I would have cleaned up before you came…but I suppose it will have to wait," Nathaniel said smirking.

"Wait," Howard said, grabbing his fathers arm, "What…what are you doing?"

"Why isn't it obvious son," said Nathaniel, "I'm finishing the game we started. I have my client here, Thomas Smith, he's paid richly for his reward, and Ricko's going to give up his power to him. It all fell into place as I thought, except for those two over there," he indicated Gunn and Fred, "And that one," he gestured towards Spike, "But I can finish them later."

"No," said Howard, "This isn't it…you can't be serious,"

"I won,' said Nathaniel, taking his arm from Howard's grasp, Ricko looked at them confused. "Now, you'll owe me obviously."

"No," said Howard again shaking his head.

"Come now son," he said, "You knew the game had stakes when you started playing. You signed the contract."

"I had no choice," Howard growled,

"There's always a choice."

"This…"Ricko's voice suddenly rose above theirs, "This was all a game to you? You never wanted my power for yourselves?"

"No, of course not," Nathaniel said, "I have no need for it, and Howard does not wish to have it."

'All this time you've been hunting me, not for greed, or for some greater purpose, some evil plan…but for sport…a bet," Ricko stared at them uncomprehending, his voice detached.

"Why ever else?" Nathaniel asked carelessly.

Howard stared at Ricko, and something of that young man he first met seemed to flicker in his eyes. "It wasn't just sport," he said to Ricko, "It wasn't, he was going to destroy them all, my friends, because he wanted me to have ambition. What was I supposed to do?"

"Nathaniel, perhaps we could start, the client Thomas enquired checking his watch, "I know you have a few problems but…"

"Yes of course," Nathaniel turned to Ricko, "I believe you clasp hands and the boy wills his magic onto you. So if you will proceed."

Thomas stepped forward, looking skeptical, "Are you sure this is the one Nathaniel, because he's a bit smaller then I thought?"

."Screw you," Ricko shook his head and stepped back slowly, disbelievingly staring at them uncomprehendingly. "I'd rather die then give you what you want. Your worse then animals, all those years…my whole life…you stuffed me around, for a bet."

"Do you really want to do that?" Nathaniel asked in a deadly quiet voice as suddenly fire appeared in Ricko's hand with some effort, he grew paler, swaying as he focused on Nathaniel. "You think I can't destroy you before it leaves your hand?"

"Kill me," Ricko said quietly, opening up his arms, "I don't care anymore…"

"Oh really," Nathaniel jerked his hand and suddenly Angel was doubled over, clutching his chest, he fell to the floor.

"Stop it," Ricko shouted, "Don't," he turned to Nathaniel glaring, he stumbled towards him.

"Do you really want to do that?" Nathaniel asked, his gaze not leaving Ricko's he twisted his hand and Angel shouted out, "One twitch and your best friend will fit into a dust pan, it would upset my brothers I suppose…but I'm sure they'll… what's the expression you kids use these days? Get over it."

"Fine," Ricko, said suddenly, staring at Angel, "Fine I'll do it. "

"Actions speak louder then words," Nathaniel said.

Ricko reached towards the client, grabbing his hand.

"Stop," Howard said, "Don't do it, don't Ricko, you know its not the right thing to do…they'll destroy the world."

"And what were you going to do with his power son? Save it, I don't think so, our bet was explicit, he was going to hand it over to one of his clients. M'boy, he's no better then me, even though he attempts to be. You see it's in the blood, were an ambitious lot our family, and evil. So Ricko, you have a choice, listen to my son over there, you can save the world but your friend here will die. Or you can save your friend and hell to the world. So what's your choice going to be?"

"Don't," Angel gasped as Ricko glanced at him. "Ricko don't…"

There was a silence as Ricko glanced at Nathaniel then down at Angel.

"My power," Ricko finally said quietly, looking at Angel who clutched his chest in agony, the clients and his hand began to glow a deep red, "I will unto thee."

* * *

**I haven't written this in ages, and I apologize, I doubt anyones really inerested in it anymore though. I just thought I should finish for my own amusement : ). So if you do read it please review **

**Sairra : P**


	19. Aftermath

**AFTERMATH**

Fire laced around them, Thomas arched up as the power entered him.

"Yes," he cried out in exultation as he felt it fill him with a warmth and strength. So much power, he knew he could do anything, destroy anything, control everything, rule the world. Ricko had his eyes trained on him, holding on, their hands were burning, and then suddenly Thomas felt it, the burning was spreading, the power no longer filled him it was overflowing, bursting within him, he couldn't hold it all, it was too much.

"Stop," he screamed, "Please stop."

He tried to pull away but he couldn't the pain engulfed him and still more power was being pushed into him, it was burning him from the inside. He was burning in fire.

"Stop," he screamed, a roaring surrounded them and Ricko continued to look into his eyes, Thomas couldn't look away and the flames enveloped him from within.

Thomas gave a final scream as the flames engulfed him and suddenly the fire disappeared and his burnt body fell to the, unrecognizable, the roaring stopped, and a pulse of power swept through the room, flinging everything backwards in its wake.

Ricko glowed for a moment, a red and then his power receded back into his skin and he fell, too tired to rise he lay there.

It was Angel who recovered first, quickly he went to Ricko's to his side.

"What happened?" he asked, helping Ricko up, Ricko was pale, and his leg was still injured.

"He's dead," Ricko said, indicating the blackened body, "He couldn't hold the power."

"Well you lose some," Nathaniel got up from the ruins of the coffee table, dusting his suit off. "I suppose I won't be getting his check in the mail, but there is the consolation prize. You may not be able to transfer your power to anyone as I suspected, but you still could be useful."

"Leave him alone," Angel growled, stepping in front of him.

"You know, I can really see the annoying aspect of your character Angel," Nathaniel remarked, "And I'm finding it harder and harder to understand why my brothers keep you alive. I know that prophecy says you'll play a crucial role in the apocalypse but is it really worth it all?"

"Your brothers?" Angel muttered, "what do they have to do with this, I thought only Wolfram and Hart cared about that?"

Nathaniel laughed, "The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart? Did you think it was just a name? The senior partners just a myth? You stupid boy."

"I think I've got a couple of hundred years on you grandpa," Angel growled.

"Oh, no I believe I've been around hmmm…lets see…since the dawn of time, if you care to calculate how many years that trumps over your insignificant two hundred and forty something."

"So which one are you then?" Angel asked, he could feel Ricko tensing behind him, "The ram?"

"No," Nathaniel said, looking genuinely affronted, "I would have thought it was obvious. He knows, don't you?"

"The wolf," Ricko panted, Angel looked at him as he stepped forward. "He's the wolf."

"I always thought the senior partners would look less… well human…." Angel said skeptically.

"Yes well my brothers always do call me an abnormality," Nathaniel said, "But this is all beside the point and if you dare to chuck that fire ball at me boy I think you'll find your friend will be dust."

Ricko stood stock still, behind his back he held the fire in his hand, Nathaniel held a stake up in his, ready to throw at Angel. It was glowing a grey colour.

"So here we are a stale mate once more," he sighed, "We've come full circle Ricko, and you still haven't answered my question."

"I think I've already given you a clear answer," Ricko glared at him.

"Not a straight forward one, so I'm only going to ask once, then I'll kill this one, and then I'll ask again and kill another one, and so it will go on until you give me an answer I like."

"Don't listen to him," snapped Angel trying to be confident and glaring at Nathaniel, feeling slightly nervous about the stake aimed at his heart. He could pull one out of mid air, but he'd never tried it when it was mystically helped.

"Your quite stupid for a smart boy you know that," Nathaniel said, looking at Ricko, "Again and again I've attempted to teach you the lesson, and you just don't learn. .." suddenly Nathaniel cocked his head as if listening to an sound, and then he smiled, "But I suppose why waist a perfectly good ensouled vampire to teach you, when my sons clever creation can do it for me."

There was a growl from the doorway and the creature stood there, saliva dripping from its jaws, its fierce eyes trained on Ricko.

"Oh shi…"

Angel quickly pushed him down and leapt forward, his sword in hand he attempted to drive it through the creatures eyes, and it broke.

"What?" Angel stared at the blade then up at the thing, "Okay then," he hit it as hard as he could and heard bone crunch, his bones. The creature growled and swept him aside, he hit the wall. Then there was nothing between Ricko and it, it stared at him, its fierce eyes trained on his form on the floor. All Ricko could do was stared up at it.

"There's no one to help now," Nathaniel said softly, "No friends, nobody, you're all alone like always. I can make it hurt you, badly you know, almost kill you, but it won't because its programmed not to kill. All you have to do is say the word and it will stop, all of it, no more being hunted, no more running, you can have a home."

Ricko ignored him, rising slowly, he stood unsteadily, his bad leg was killing him. Then bracing himself he punched the thing squarely in the jaw, it reeled and Ricko jumped at it, on its back. It bucked, screeched and it sounded like metal grating on metal. Ricko gritted its teeth as it slammed against the wall in its attempt to dislodge him. Then it slammed against the wall, this time on its right side, where Ricko's bad leg was slung, he cried out and almost blacked out, fell to the floor. Then metal teeth tore into his side and he screamed, the world was going black, through the haze of the pain he saw someone get behind the creature, and slam there hand into its neck, the creature screeched once more, and fell to the floor, lifeless.

Then suddenly the hand grabbed him, pulled him up, and he felt something sharp at his neck, pressing against him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll kill him, "Howards voice souded, deep and weary, "I'm not above doing it, not now. I'll kill him and all your plans will go to waste."

"So what is it you want then son?"

"Leave my friends alone, that's all I've ever wanted. I'm sick to the bone of it, of this all. I can't stand it, I need to get away. But I've been at it so long, I don't think I can get out, I'm in too deep. That was your plan all along I guess. But here I guess I didn't want to just fade out, so this is the final thing I do before I surrender completely. So swear it or I kill him."

"You think they would appreciate this, when have you last talked to them? When have you last talked to her?"

"Swear it," Howard's voice was deadly quiet, "Or I kill him."

"Fine," Nathaniel said, there seemed to be only amusement in his voice, "By all the powers I swear it upon my life," he cut his hand and held it out as if to shake. Howard did the same, still holding Ricko, and then they're hands met and they shook, power radiated from them, and then they let go and it was done.

"But what about him," he looked at Ricko, and a smirk played along his lips.

"You have me father," Howard sighed, "Isn't that enough?"

"For now," Nathaniel walked past them, stepping over Spike's innate form, "See you at work son." And then he was gone.

Howard still held Ricko, the knife still at his throat, then something stirred from the corner, and Angel rose, groaning, he looked up and growled.

"Let him go."

Howard stared at him, then suddenly he threw Ricko to the ground.

"Get out of here kid," he snapped, "And take your friends with you."

Ricko stared after him as he walked away from the ruined apartment.

* * *

They entered the Hyperion, they had come out of it alive. Angel and Ricko were a bit worse for wear but the most the others got was a few bruises and ripped clothing. To Cordelia however this was of essential importance.

"This shirt was my favorite," she said looking forlornly down at the small tear. Angel gave her a glare, his own jacket had been ripped viciously beyond repair by the creature.

They all stumbled (or in Ricko's case limped with serious help) into the hotel lobby, and collapsed onto the various chairs, exhausted.

"Well that was certainly interesting," said Spike, who for some reason Angel couldn't understand, had decided to come with them. "Must say you don't have a dull moment do you little git."

Ricko looked at him oddly, but before he could comment Wesley appeared from inside the office, Lorne who was holding Connor came behind him.

"Angel we have to talk."

"Wes I just got back from being almost dusted by a sorcerer who was literally squeezing my heart, I really need to rest.."

"It can't wait," Wesley said, his eyes searched and found Ricko who was slumped on the chair, blood soaked his clothes, though his wound had stopped bleeding and begun to heal.

Ricko noticed his gaze and glared at him, "If you need to say something," he said, "You can say it now."

"Fine," said Wesley, "I've found some files on Ricko, through my connections. So would you care to explain to all of us how your parents were found bloodily murdered, or how a boy you were seen with was found burned to a crisp in an alleyway, or how a girl in your class who had befriended you disappeared, or even how the foster home where you were staying at burnt down with your foster parent still inside, and his little girl disappeared?"

Ricko paled, the others looked at him shock on their faces.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for it Wes," said Angel, standing calmly and looking at him, Wesley's gaze didn't leave Ricko's.

"I killed them," Ricko said quietly.

"Not the explanation I was expecting," said Gunn, quickly getting up and picking up his axe.

"Wait," said Angel, "What do you mean?"

"I killed all of them, except the little girl, she's alive somewhere I'm pretty sure, and safe."

"How did you kill them?" Angel asked looking intently at Ricko who had put his head in his hands.

"Well I think it's pretty obvious," Spike piped up, "I mean you haven't been out of the game long enough to forget how you go about killing someone."

"My parents, I found them murdered like that, but it was because of me, it happened because of me, probably Nathaniel had it done. Then Kelly, she befriended me, you know when I was living at Stan's, he's who I was sent to after my parents died, my foster father. Anyway, she was my first friend, and then when the fire happened they caught me and they took me in. And Howard tried to use Kelly to make me do what they wanted, I thought he was bluffing, he was, but Nathaniel wasn't and he had her shot right in front of me. And I ran away. "Yeah, so three down, because of me. But I hadn't learnt. The boy, his name was.."

"Grant," Fred whispered. Ricko looked up at her.

"Yeah, right, he was my friend, after I ran. He showed me how to survive on the streets, and he found out what I was, I mean he didn't know the fancy name for it, free lancer, but he knew I was powerful. Those guys were chasing me and I told him what they wanted, he heard…he asked me for it, he said he could protect me and himself, and they'd stop chasing me. I didn't want it, I never had wanted it, so I tried to give it to him, I willed it to him, but it was too much, I guess it's too much for anyone though until now I always thought I'd done it wrong."

"So he burned up," said Cordelia, "Like that guy."

"Yeah, and finally Stan, my foster father…He was a pig, and he used to…get drunk, and he used to…he used hit me allright…and he had a little daughter so I let him, because I knew if I told anyone he'd find her and he'd get revenge. And I couldn't run away because otherwise he'd hurt her, and I couldn't look after her myself, I had nothing. So I stayed and I let him…and then one day he hit her…he hit her right there in front of me, she was only a kid. And I lost it, the power just burst out of me, and the house caught on fire, and I took her and I ran. So yeah, I was responsible for his death, for all there deaths really, but it wasn't my intention to kill them, I never meant for it to happen. I can understand if you want me to leave, or if…you know you call the police or something…but just know I never meant to get you guys in trouble to I didn't want any of this to happen, I never wanted it."

"He's telling the truth," Lorne said grimly as Wesley turned to him.

They stared stunned at him, and Angel turned to Wesley.

"So you ready to call the police Wes?" he asked, his eyes hard.

"I didn't realize," said Wesley, "And I'm sorry, but this does prove that your power is unpredictable, you need to be trained in how to use it and you also need some protection otherwise wherever you go people are going to keep on getting hurt because of what's after you."

"I don't think we have to worry about that for a while anyway," Angel said, "Howard doesn't seem interested in him anymore, and Nathaniel seems to have other projects, he's one of the Senior partners."

"What?" said Cordelia, "I thought they'd be more…"

"Demonic looking," Fred finished for her.

"Well he's definitely pure evil inside if that counts for anything," Gunn pointed out.

"Excuse me," said Spike putting up his hand, "But who exactly are the Senior Partners."

"Howard destroyed the creature," Ricko said, "And I don't think he'll be making anymore." He took out a vial from his pocket, it held blood in it.

"What's that?" Wesley asked, frowning.

"My blood," Ricko replied.

"Oh goody, can I have some." Spike brightened as he saw it.

"If you want me to rip out your throat," Angel growled.

"God can't you take a joke you great git…"

"Howard pulled it out from its core," Ricko said loudly over them, stopping Angels reply. "It's what powered it and what made it so unaffected by my magic. But this is all the Agency ever got out from me, I remember when they took it, so I'd say that's the end of those creatures."

"But why did he destroy it?"

Ricko shrugged, frowning, "I don't know."

"Okay," Cordelia said, "So now that we've saved the day yet again and prevented some evil guy from getting a whole lot of power, I don't know about you guys but I really need a shower."

* * *

**Please review **


	20. Crossroads

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* * *

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CROSSROADS

Lilah sat at her desk going through a very, very interesting file, the boys. She had gotten everything that was in the Wolfram and Harts vaults to be made into a comprehensive report, and now she had just finished reading it, everything.

She looked down at the envelope on her desk, the key to the whole puzzle, why Nathaniel was just so interested in this kid. She'd had his blood analyzed, there was just enough on the wall for the lab to use, and she'd found out something very interesting with it. She smirked, this was something which would either ensure her a very high place, or a termination of her job and in the literal sense. She took the envelope and opened it again, taking out the test she'd had done. She knew her hunch wasn't wrong, they usually weren't, and Lilah was observant very observant. She'd gone out with Howard a couple of times, he was a bit of a rake. With that it hadn't been too hard to see the similarities especially when she'd seen him again recently in the lobby, talking darkly with his father. Now here she was, sitting at her desk at ten at night, with the test results in her hand, and for once in her life not exactly sure what to do.

A thump startled her and the paper fell under her desk, she cursed, was going to bend down to get it, when she froze.

"I thought you said you weren't coming back," she straightened up to be met with the boy, and Angel. "Oh look and you brought a little friend."

"Yeah," said Angel, "That's right."

"So who's guarding the little tyke then?"

Angel glared at her, but then Ricko turned to him and grinned, something Lilah was not expecting.

"Can I do it now?" there was a look of expectant glee on his face, Angel smirked and nodded.

Suddenly Lilah's desk burst into blue flames, she screamed and pushed herself backwards falling off her chair. Then the flames abruptly disappeared and she heard laughing. Gingerly she got to her feet and the boy and Angel were actually laughing.

"If you think you can get what you want from threatening me you obviously don't know me very well Angel," she snapped, settling her suit.

"I already got what I want," said Ricko, giving a wolfish grin she held up the file she'd been reading. "That was just for the heck of it."

Lilah raised her eyebrows. "And you really think security's going to let you walk out with that?"

"I don't know Lilah," said Angel quietly, "They let us walk in pretty easily. You know with Ricko putting them all to sleep and all."

"Fine," said Lilah coolly, "Run away to your hotel, you think your safe in your castle just because you've got a little magician now?"

"You know Lilah this little magician can make real flames too," she stared at Ricko, tense. "I ddin't just come for this, I came to leave a message too. You come near me ever again, you try and find me, and I'll destroy this place and everyone in it." He looked at Lilah his eyes cold, "I'll burn it to the ground, you know I can. So you just tell your boss that okay, and when I say boss I mean the real ones, the big guys. You got all that or you want me to write it down for you?"

Lilah glared at him irritated, "God what have you given him lessons in being righteous?" she turned to Angel.

"Did you get it or not?"

"Yes," she snapped.

"Good," they turned around and left Lilah standing there. She bent down and retrieved the test results from under her desk.

"_It looks like you missed something boys,'_ she thought, _'And now I know exactly what to do with it.'_

* * *

Ricko sat alone in the garden, it was night and he'd stayed a week in the hotel, recovered, then went to find information from Wolfram and Hart. Now he had it all in a manilla file on his lap, and he'd read it all, and he didn't know if he would have been better off just leaving it all alone.

Angel came towards him, he'd heard him and Cordy arguing inside about who should talk to him, and Angel pulled the short straw again. Sighing he sat beside Ricko on the steps, he held a sleeping Connor in his arms. The full moon bathed the garden in light, making it look like a fairy tale place. Ricko placed the file next to Angel.

"You can give that to Wes," he said, "I'm sure he'll be interested in it."

"Did you get what you want from it?" Angel asked.

"Yes," said Ricko, "And no...Apparently Wes' research was wrong."

"What part?" Angel asked wryly. After Ricko had established that he might stay for a while Wesley had done a lot of researching in every possible area on free lancers, which he had promptly told Ricko about. He had also begun to attempt to teach him self control with his magic, an attempt which seemed to be failing miserably though Angel had a feeling that Ricko wasn't really putting his heart and soul into it.

"There not different young people with free lancer powers over the ages…they were all me. There's even pictures in there…of me, paintings, drawings, from the caveman era, from before. I mustn't have liked having my picture taken a lot, because there was only ever one copy and there all in Wolfram and Harts files."

"So Merlin?"

"Me, apparently I put some sort of glamour on, because in those days people were much more likely to believe an old man had endless magic powers, rather then a kid. "

"So how does it work, do you get reincarnated or something?" Angel asked.

"I don't know," Ricko sighed, "I don't know and that's the problem. All I know is that apparently I've always just disappeared at around the same time span, and then I've been born again, but looking exactly the same, not different people, just me born over and over again and disappearing. And apparently according to that I'm supposed to remember it…all of it, every bit of time I've spent in this world and in others…but I can't, for some reason I came back into this world wrong this time around … and I can't remember anything."

"Why? Is it something they did?"

"No," said Ricko, "According to that they don't know why either."

"Wolfram and Hart aren't exactly trustworthy," Angel pointed out.

"No," said Ricko, "They're not, but they keep good files, detailed on every subject matter they can get their hands on. And they weren't expecting us, I don't think they had enough time to tamper with the files."

They sat there in silence for a while, Angel gathered Ricko had something else he hadn't told him, but he didn't press him.

"They weren't my real parents," Ricko said quietly, "They were Wolfram and Hart employees. They weren't even really married, they were just studying me. Nathaniel had planned for me to become a Wolfram and Hart agent when I grew, I was his pet project. But I guess they fell in love or something, because she got pregnant, and then they were going to run away together. But you can't run from Wolfram and Hart, so Nathaniel sent some vampires to take them out, and he moved his plans forward. Except I was less co operative then he hoped, so he sent me to Stan to soften me up I suppose, but that was a bust and things just kept unraveling…."

"I'm sorry," Angel said quietly.

"Don't be," said Ricko quietly, "They never loved me and I never loved them. We never bonded, they were like strangers to me. I guess…I felt guilty all this time about their deaths because I thought it was because of me…but it wasn't, its actually a relief you know, to know that."

"You can stay here you know," Angel said, "There's lots of stuff you need to figure out, and we can protect you while you do, I can help you. I did promise you after all."

Ricko grinned, "I know," he said, "But I guess Nathaniel was right about one thing, I'm at a crossroads. Now I figure I can stay here, and let you protect me and be afraid that he's always lurking around the corner. Or I can go out there and find out who I really was and get my memories back. It's like an itch I can't scratch."

"I know what you mean," Angel said frowning, he'd been having that feeling ever since Ricko had been around, but he put that out of his mind as he understood what Ricko was saying.

"Oh, so you can't stay?" he frowned.

"Not that I can't," Ricko said softly, looking at Connor's sleeping face, "I just…I have to do this you know. It sucks not knowing who you really are. Besides I think I might look for my parents, according to that file I have to be born of two really powerful people. I know that technically I've had thousands of parents over the years…but I don't know I guess these ones are important in a way, they're like my first ones seeing as I can't remember any others. I'd just like to know what happened to them."

"I understand," Angel said quietly, "I bet they're probably wondering what happened to you too. So where are you heading?"

"There's supposed to be this ancient temple somewhere in the east, up in the mountains. It's said to be the origin of time. I suppose I'll go there and see where it takes me."

"But you don't have to go tonight," Angel pointed out.

"No," Ricko grinned, "Not tonight."

"Do you want to hold him," Angel indicated Connor. Ricko looked at him startled, then suddenly he smiled.

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

Angel handed the baby over to him and Ricko held him, a peace seemed to descend over his face as he looked at Connor, he looked so young and innocent, just like a kid should. Connor slowly opened his eyes as Ricko rocked him gently and yawned, then looking up he smiled at Ricko, and the kid laughed. Angel thought they made a perfect picture.

"Just be careful all right." Angel said quietly, looking at him, looking at them both.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Ricko asked, flashing Angel a grin which showed all his teeth.

* * *

"So he's gone, "Cordelia said quietly.

"Yeah," Angel said, they sat in the lobby, the others hadn't woken up yet, Angel had bottle in hand and was feeding Connor. "He left early this morning I guess. He did leave Connor this though," he held up a soft toy.

"Barney," Cordelia made a face. "I don't know about you but he always gave me the creeps. And not that I'm homophobic or anything but don't you think it's just a bit gay for a male dinosaur to be purple?"

"I thought it was a sweet gesture," Angel said defensively.

"Yeah the gesture was sweet," Cordelia said, "The present not so much."

"Connor likes it," Angel said. Before Cordelia could reply she suddenly paused, staring at the counter.

"Angel, why has your car keys got a ribbon on it, tied in a bow?"

"What do you?" Angel stared at them and then something dawned on him, quickly he moved towards the underground parking area with Connor, Cordelia beside him.

"Oh God," he cried out in joy, staring at the black GTX, the exact same car, his car, it smelled exactly like it, standing in his usual parking space. "I don't believe this, how did… this is great, this is better then great…"

"God, Angel are you going to cry with joy?" Cordelia asked.

"No," Angel muttered defensively, but his eyes did seem unusually bright.

"He could have at least got you a better car," Cordelia said, slightly disappointed, "Maybe a jaguar."

"This cars good," Angel said once more defensive.

"There's a note on the windshield."

"I'll get it," Angel said eagerly, reaching for it he quickly snatched it up. It was on plain white paper, in black calligraphy, Angel frowned in puzzlement, how did a kid know how to write like an 18th century person. He shook this off as he read the words and grinned.

"_I told you I'll get you it back. See you around big guy. Ricko. P.S Thanks for helping me, I feel safe now in knowing my head won't explode. _

* * *

**There we go finally finished please review and I'll reply. **


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